


Not Better Off Alone

by starbucks22



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2020-05-13 19:37:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 37,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19257820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starbucks22/pseuds/starbucks22
Summary: Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus were a couple that was known to give people a safe, temporary place to live. They were well off financially and wanted to make a difference, and that was the way they knew how to.Things take a whole new turn, however, when Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren crash into their lives.





	1. Another One Bites The Dust.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally published June 5th on wattpad. Enjoy.

**A/N: One quick thing before this begins: this is a modern au, and all characters are human. Please enjoy!**

 

"Ezra Bridger, child of Mira and Ephraim Bridger."

"Wait a second, what are we talking about again? I got distracted by something, I'm so sorry about that."

The thing that the teenager had gotten distracted by was not a 'thing' at all- it was her very cute, very sweet, and equally distracted boyfriend, who was off somewhere with some kids.

"We're talking about children," the woman informed Hera as cheerfully as she could. (Even then, Hera would go home and report that she could have sworn the woman's right eye was twitching.)

"Oh, right. Sorry about that."

"It's no problem! Would you like me to start over?"

"Sure," Hera shrugged. "Go for it."

"Alright!" The woman seemed to chirp out. "Okay, so, back to what I was saying... I was talking about a teenage boy named Ezra Bridger. His parents were Ephraim and Mira Bridger."

"Okay," she nodded, messing around with her hands a little. "How old is he? Uh, what does he look like?"

Hera then fiddled with her hair until it was just how she liked it- two green braids fixed up neatly out and away from her face.

"Let me check real quick- Aha! Okay then. He's just recently turned thirteen years old." The woman at the front desk smiled happily down at her. "Were you thinking of fostering him?"

"Wha- no! No, I wasn't- my boyfriend knows somebody here... That's why I'm here, I came here with him! And I'm not even in my twenties yet, so that's definitely not a good idea. I wouldn't know the first thing about taking care of a kid. I- I'm probably practically still a kid myself! I don't know anything about, well... anything."

"I don't know how true that last part of your sentence was, but that boyfriend you're talking about better be me, or I'm gonna be really concerned."

Kanan Jarrus sauntered over and wrapped his arm around Hera's shoulders.

"What's going on here?"

"Oh, nothing is," Hera replied, smiling as she stared up at her boyfriend. "I was just asked about fostering some kid named Ezra, who just turned thirteen a little bit ago, apparently." 

"Well, that makes sense," he nodded. "But do you even have a license? Better question, are you even old enough? Am I old enough? We're only eighteen, so I don't think so..."

"What?" Hera blinked at him incredulously.

"What?" He shrugged casually, looking entirely unconcerned by his girlfriend's confusion. "What's the staring for? I mean, I know I'm hot, but I figure that's not why you're looking at me. What's up?"

"It's just... That's not what I thought you would say. He's a child that needs a home, but you and I are still practically kids too, you know?"

"Well, I think it's a good idea, but you don't have to listen to me. Don't think I haven't noticed you tagging along with me every time I come to see Sabine, though." He shot her a knowing look.

"I knew you would have noticed eventually. I wasn't hiding anything. Anyway, speaking of Sabine, who is she again? Is she a relative or what?"

Kanan shook his head. "She's not, no. I originally came here a few months ago to see my friend Zeb. He works here, and he's rather close with these two kids named Ezra Bridger and Sabine Wren."

"Ezra Bridger! Maybe Zeb could tell me something about him so I could get to know him? Uh, anyway, that's besides the point. Why haven't you brought Sabine in yet?"

"...What do you mean?" Kanan asked, trying, (and failing) to appear innocent.

Hera rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Oh please, I'm not stupid. I know you want to. Why else would you just spontaneously bring in kids to stay with us? Do you ever even inform Depa, who, you know, is the homeowner, about this?"

"You knew about that?!" Kanan exclaimed loudly, ignoring the last question. "And it's only been two kids! That's not that many!"

She nodded. "Yes, maybe, but each kid was with us for at least a month at a time. So, why not this one?"

"She's supposed to be back with her father in a couple weeks. Also, I legally can't adopt her yet."

She nodded again. "Why isn't she with him now?"

Kanan shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Enough with the questions, please. If you're this concerned, go talk to people that work here."

She nodded. "Yikes, okay. For what it's worth though, it's really sweet of you to keep visiting her. I'm sure it means something to her."

"It does to me, too."

The two smiled at each other and went in for a hug. But before they could, they were interrupted by a loud-

"What do you mean he's gone? He's supposed to be back for me in two weeks! I'm supposed to go home!"

"Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry..."

"Does this happen a lot?" Hera asked quietly, tilting her head up at Kanan as she got closer, this time succeeding in giving a hug. She smiled ever so slightly when Kanan slowly began to wrap his arms around her in return.

It was nice.

But not for long.

Even though he was holding her close, he wasn't looking back down at her, but over across the room at the screaming teenager instead.

"Oh kriff," he whispered. Hera tilted her head at him again, this time in confusion.

"What is it?"

He didn't answer, just shook his head in a silent signal of 'not now,' as he walked away toward the still screaming kid. He crouched down next to her and sat right in front of where her eyes were going.

"Sabine, it'll be okay, it'll be fine, trust me, you'll get through this, okay? I bet that might be the last possible thing you want to hear right now, I'm sure that it doesn't feel like I'm telling you the truth right now, but I swear I am. Sabine, hey, can you look up at me right now?" With seemingly great effort, Sabine did. Giving no verbal answer, she simply gave a barely visible shake of the head.

"How do I know we can trust you?"

A kid with somewhat long hair had asked that bitterly. He was standing close to Sabine, looking like he wanted to come closer but wasn't quite sure if he should.

His glare was sharp as Kanan got closer. The kid moved fast, practically running to get in front of Sabine. He stood in front of her protectively, even though Kanan was sure that he didn't pack much of a punch.

I could teach him, Kanan thought. Then he also thought, but it's not time for that. This is much more important.

"Sabine," he spoke up, noticing that she wasn't looking at him anymore, "Sabine, hey, can you hear me?"

She looked over at him and he sighed in relief.

After a few silent seconds passed, Sabine managed to speak."Man, am I glad you're here. Don't tell anyone I said that, but really." Her voice practically broke his heart as she hesitantly asked, "...Why are you here?"

"I was here to see you. What's going on here, if you don't mind telling me?"

She paused for a moment, then looked down at Ezra, who still looked furious.

"He can come over here with us. It's okay, Ez."

The blue-haired boy looked doubtful.

Sabine persisted, though, which was an oddly relieving sight to see. "Seriously. I swear, he's fine."

"You're sure? Absolutely positive? Because I need you to be absolutely, one hundred percent-"

"Yeah," she interuptted quietly, but that was loud enough to shut up Ezra. Then she smiled slightly and looked back over at Kanan.

"I trust him."


	2. The Show Must Go On.

Sabine was not happy. She hadn't been for a while. She was more than just unhappy, though. The bright-haired girl was absolutely furious.

Then again, who could blame her? It's been a month since her dad died, it looked like she was going to stay in foster care for the foreseeable future, she didn't know if she would be able to re-dye her hair once the color of it faded, everything sucked, the food was pretty darn disgusting in her opinion...

Okay, so maybe that last thing wasn't the most important in the world, but that's besides the point, really.

Sabine just really wasn't having a good time.

There were a couple of good things, though.

Well, people, not things, technically.

Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus.

They were her best friends, without a doubt. Kanan, however, despite being close to her, confused her a lot. So, so much.

She wasn't quite sure why Kanan kept coming to see her. He did it for six months, at that point. Her dad dying just intensified that, as Kanan instantly increased his visits. Every single time she brought it up, even if it was just to snark him about him being old and needing to go to work, he simply shrugged and told her that, "This is exactly where I need to be right now."

She didn't know how to let him know how much it meant to her. Every time she opened her mouth to tell him, she chickened out, scared of the emotional conversation to come. So, she simply couldn't say anything about it, but she was hoping he already knew on some level.

Besides, even if she could actually force the important words out, she would never quite get the right chance to tell him, again. Recently, and suddenly appearing out of nowhere, it wasn't just him coming around anymore.

"Hey, Sabine!"

"That's my name, don't wear it out. Good to see you, though. What's up, Kanan?"

He motioned next to him, at a green haired woman who was fiddling with the ends of her hair. When Kanan spoke up shortly after, she seemed to jerk her head up to pay better attention.

"This is my girlfriend, Hera! She'll be coming with me a lot more, now. Hera, this is Sabine."

"Hi!" Hera responded nervously. "He's right, my name is Hera. It's really nice to meet you."

"Uh. Nice to meet you, too," was the awkward response.

Luckily, though, the awkwardness really didnt last long.

"Your hair is green?"

Hera nodded, fiddling with it some more. "Yes, it is. You like hair dye?"

As if the answer wasn't slightly obvious. Her hair was mostly brown, except for the ends of it, which was a light lavender color.

"If I get adopted or something, I'm gonna go full out. Chop half my hair off and make it all purple. Or maybe orange."

"Which one? Light purple like what you have, or orange?"

Sabine shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe both? Oh, and I would paint the walls, too."

"Your room's walls?"

Both Kanan and Sabine shook their heads on that one.

"Nah," Kanan answered for a still, (understandably,) upset Sabine. Mentioning her ideal future hair color did help cheer her up a bit, though.

Unfortunately, it didn't last very long.

"Sabine is obsessed with colors and art," Kanan explained to Hera, who nodded.

"I bet she's good at it, right?"

This time, it was Kanan that nodded. "Oh, yeah. She's great."

"Kanan stop," was Sabine's quick, and slightly embarrassed, response. "I don't wanna show her any of it yet. I just met her."

"Right, okay. Well, later on, if you want-"

He paused and glanced down at his ringing phone.

"Should I answer this?"

"Is it important?"

He shrugged and picked up the phone, glancing at the number on the screen.

He blinked at it, confused.

"Ahsoka usually doesn't call."

Kanan decided to ignore Sabine whispering, "Who's Ahsoka?"

He answered the phone.

A few seconds went by, then, "Hi I have a problem."

He blinked, confused. "Clearly. You usually just show up at my house though, or text me if it's not too important."

"Glad you figured that out," Ahsoka responded. "Are you busy right now?"

"Um," he looked over to the confused Sabine, "Yeah, I am. What do you need, though?"

There was a pause, and some ruffling of papers. "Can you meet me at the Coruscant Police Station?"

"Can I meet you at- Did you get arrested?"

"No!" She groaned. "Why do you keep thinking that I'm the one who got in trouble? Every single time I call you. This time you thought I got arrested, last time you thought I got kicked out of school, and the time before that, you thought I beat up a senator who's been hitting on me! I didn't do any of that."

"Yeah, not yet!"

"Kanan I swear I'm going to rip you in half."

"You can't! You don't even know where I am."

"I know where you're about to be!" Was the calm response. "The police station."

"To bail you out?"

"Kanan."

He tried not to laugh, but failed.

"Okay, okay! But why do I need to meet you there? You never answered me."

"Um. Okay, so you know how I didn't beat up anyone?"

"What did your brother do?"

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, even though Kanan couldn't see her. "Which one? Rex, Anakin, Hevy, Echo, Fives? I could go on and on and on."

Sabine stared at the phone and whispered, "How does she have that many siblings?"

Kanan once again ignored her. "Ahsoka, come on."

"Okay so Anakin got arrested."

"Why am I not surprised."

"Hey, in his defense, he's never gotten arrested before this!"

"He got arrested in the first place!"

"Kanan I swear-"

"Okay," Kanan sighed. "Why did he get arrested?"

"He beat up two people... at the same time."

Kanan simply sighed and shook his head. "Why."

"Well one was hitting on me and one was hitting on his crush, or girlfriend, I don't know- but you didn't hear that from me!"

"He beat up someone for hitting on you?"

"The guy wouldn't leave me alone. Honestly, if Anakin hadn't shown up, I probably would have been arrested. And you know how I fight."

"....That's for sure. Okay, fine, I'll get there to pick you up. I'll be there in twenty."

"You're a lifesaver!"

Kanan shook his head and hung up the phone.

"Why... why do I even talk to her and her friends?"

"So who's Ahsoka?" Sabine asked.

Ezra, who had apparently shown up while he was on the phone, walked over to the group. "Yeah, who's Ahsoka?"

"She's one of my friends and her family of sorts is a mess. If she's not getting into trouble, it's one of her brothers."

"How many does she have?"

"I... I'm honestly not sure. I don't even know if she's sure."

"How can she not know how many brothers she has? What's the estimate, at least?"

"Over 20 that I know of."

"Twenty?!" Sabine and Ezra both yelled out.

"How..." Ezra mumbled. "How the actual heck did her mother and father have twenty whole children together? And why would they want to?"

Kanan didn't bother correcting him.

"Anyway, as you've clearly heard-"

"We didn't hear anything?"

Kanan shrugged. "Oh, thought you did. Ahsoka's loud. Anyway, I really have to get going. Sabine, Ezra, hang in there. Hera, you coming?"

Hera looked over at the two teenagers, then shook her head.

"I'm staying with them."


	3. Cell Block Tango.

Anakin wasn't in jail for very long. He, obviously, was pretty happy with that. The twenty-something year old gleefully skipped away from the precinct, a cell phone in one hand and a ratty old hoodie in the other.

He seemed pretty pleased, judging by the way he was humming as he walked along.

"This is nice," he said.

Ahsoka, on the other hand, was not nearly as amused. 

"You went to jail for getting into fights," she began really slowly, as if she just couldn't comprehend the stupidity of the man with her, "THEN YOU GET TO JAIL AND YOU GET INTO ANOTHER FIGHT. I don't know how you aren't still in there! I don't know how you keep getting such cheap bail! I don't know how you keep getting bail in the first place! I can't even comprehend why they would let you out! Gosh, Anakin, you're worse than I am, and that's saying something!"

"Well, duh. I kind of have to be worse than you. Especially today."

Desperately wanting to keep her patience with her best friend, (and failing miserably,) Ahsoka took a deep breath before speaking again.

Please don't break Anakin Skywalker's head off, she thought to herself frantically. Once that didn't seem to work, her brain took it up as a chant. Please don't break Anakin Skywalker's head off, please don't break Anakin Skywalker's head off, please don't-

"And why is that?" 

"You haven't gotten arrested yet!" Anakin informed the younger of the two cheerfully, as if this was a matter to be excited about. One of the two not getting arrested is certainly better than both of them getting into trouble, that's for sure, but it definitely would have been better if both of them followed the law in the first place.

She frowned, shaking her head a bit. "You know, you're the second person to say that today, and unfortunately, you may both have a point. Unfortunately," she repeated pointedly when he simply kept on smiling like he didn't have a single care in the world.

"Yeah?" he asked, head tilted, "Who was the first?"

"A guy named Kanan Jarrus."

"Oooh, who's Kanan? I don't know a Kanan."

"No, you don't, and I'd really like to keep it that way."Ahsoka responded vaguely, quickly tapping down at her phone as she answered him.

"Seriously? That's it? I kind of figured out that I don't know him. If I knew him, I wouldn't be saying anything, now would I?"

Ahsoka shrugged and kept tapping away.

"Wow thanks for all that information," Anakin spoke sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he did so. He then poked her on the shoulder, causing her to frown even more. "Seriously, who is he? I'll keep poking you if you don't say anything. You know I will."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, too. "Yeah, I'm fully aware, Skyguy. To answer your question, I met him at the dojo a few years ago. He left a few months ago when his mom got hurt. I'm kind of surprised you didn't notice... No, actually, never mind. Not noticing things sounds pretty on brand for you."

"Hey! In my defense, I was busy! Training to get a black belt is hard work, okay? They don't give them out to just anyone!"

"Hmm. And you still haven't mastered it?"

"Neither have you!"

Ahsoka shrugged. "Yeah. But I don't have as much experience as you, and if you haven't gotten that far yet, what says I have to? Nothing does, that's what."

"Eh, good point, I guess."

"Besides," Ahsoka continued with a smirk, "It's a true miracle that you didn't fall all over yourself the other day in front of the new girl. No wonder you don't have a black belt yet- she's distracting you. I bet you have no problems with that, though, since the dumb girl likes you too for some reason." 

"Oho, now who's the one not noticing things? For one, she's not even new! She's been at the dojo for three whole months now! Two, she has a name, you know!"

"Oh, I'm sure you do. Her name is Padme, right?"

Anakin nodded. "Yeah, that's her name. I don't know why she even goes to the dojo though, honestly. Don't get me wrong- she's amazing! But I just can't really see her as someone who does karate or any form of martial arts, you know? Her heart clearly isn't into all the fighting." He tapped on his chin thoughtfully for a second or two? "Ballet. I can see her doing ballet. Oh! Or maybe politics? Social work?" He shook his head and went back to his original statement. "Nah. Definitely ballet."

"That makes sense, actually. She fits in well enough with everyone there, though, which is good, but she just seems to be way more sophisticated than the rest of us. Definitely smarter than you, probably smarter than me. For someone who's just beginning, she's like, way too good at it. Honestly, I'm a bit jealous."

Anakin nodded rapidly. He pointed at her and took a deep breath, but before he could go off on a rant about the current love of his life, Padme Amidala, he seemed to reined himself in. The man settled on one simple sentence to say instead. "She helps me out in front of the council, which is always nice."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. "Why do you call them that, exactly?"

"Because it makes them sound all stupid and official, which is what they are. Also, no matter how many times I see it, it still shocks me that Qui-Gon is even a part of them. He isn't even the slightest bit like them, you know? He's not all snooty and rude and demanding. He's nice and wise and gets stuff done."

Ahsoka nodded, starting to smile. She quickly smothered it down before Anakin could see it, though. In her eyes, he had to think that she was still mad at him. It wouldn't even be a lie, because she was, a bit, but Anakin's happiness was infectious. When he was smiling and bright and energetic, it was more than just a bit difficult to pull yourself back and not join in on the joy. "Yeah, I know. But hey, on the bright side, he's going up against his rival this weekend. I honestly can't wait to see that."

Anakin grinned. "That's true! That's so true. He's gonna wipe the floor with that Darth Maul guy, I can see it now." He threw one arm out dramatically to the side, "You and I, sitting on the bleachers. Obi-Wan is there too, if he isn't fighting. Oh right, maybe even Barriss. The three or four of us are cheering Qui-Gon on. We all laugh every time that Maul falls to the ground. Oh! There's popcorn, too, and other snacks. Lots of it." He paused for a second as his stomach growled loudly, interuptting him. "Hey, wanna go get some ice cream, and you can tell me more about this Kanan guy?"

"Sure. There's really not much to say, though. Today's the first time we've seen each other in weeks."

She paused for a few seconds.

Then, casual as could be, as if the news she had was as simple and bland as something like "Your least favorite cereal got restocked last week," Ahsoka said-

"I'm pretty sure he's going to adopt the two kids he just met."


	4. Wish You Were Here.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zeb helps Sabine out with her family problems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this is confusing

Two months after Sabine's dad died, she got major news. It might not have blind sided her so much and caused her to feel actual emotions if she had gotten a good warning ahead of time, but that's just not how the cookie crumbled.

"There's a couple that wants to adopt you."

Sabine looked up at Zeb, shrugged a pretty careless shrug, then picked up a pencil and looked back down at her sketchbook. After a few minutes went by without any elaboration from the man, Sabine sighed and glanced sadly at her one true love, (she was looking at her sketchbook,) before she set it down beside her. She made sure to still keep it and the pencil within her reach, however, on the very real chance that she would just get up and walk away.

She looked up at Zeb from her position on the ground. She then somehow managed to put one hand on her hip and tilted her head slightly to the left as she asked, "Are you even allowed to tell me this? Don't I have to, like, actually meet the people? Is that how this works here? You'll need to honestly tell me, because I have no idea. If you're doing something illegal, you have to keep me out of it for now." Before she could even get an answer, she frantically looked all around them before realizing that nobody was watching them. Zeb might not have known it at the time, but she really didn't want to get him in trouble. She wasn't only looking out for herself right then, which might not have been noticeable, but she truly didn't want him to get arrested if anything happened. (You know, despite the fact that he was the one who started anything in the first place. He was the one who walked over to Sabine, after all.)

Zeb paused for a second, thinking, then simply shrugged. He didn't seem all that scared for a guy that could have potentially lost his job. "Nah," he eventually said as casually as he could, "This place is strict, but they aren't that strict. We should be just fine. Since when do you care about the rules?"

She didn't directly answer that. "Well, I doubt you'd tattle on me if I didn't care. Maybe you wouldn't even say anything if I actually went and committed a crime again."

"You know, considering the fact that I just told you that someone's gonna take you in as their own, I was definitely expecting you to be, like, jumping off the walls or something. Not whatever..." he motioned up and down at the strangely calm teenager, "...This is."

Sabine shrugged, picking up her sketchbook and a pen. She flipped it open and started doodling. "I mean, it's definitely great and all, but I don't exactly want to run off with some strangers and see them try and act like they're my parents. I've probably never even met whoever they are. It's not like I talk to all that many people. Most days I hardly talk to you, and you're right in front of me nearly every single day. And you know me, Zeb. If they try to make me follow a whole bunch of restrictive rules, that won't exactly go well. For example, my paints." As she said that, she held up a few stray colored pencils. After setting them down gently, she kept talking- or really, ranting. "What if they're some of those stuffy old people that just want me to 'do what's best for me' or 'do what's best for them' and they want me to be a doctor or something boring like that?" Before Zeb could even get a word in edgewise, she backtracked. "I- I mean... doctors are good. Doctors are important. We would all literally be dead without doctors. The human race probably would have died out by now if it weren't for them! They're amazing. Great, excellent, inspirational blah blah blah... but that's not me. Or even worse! What if whoever takes me in just completely hates me? What if I end up in a horrible home? What if-" poor Zeb once again tried to speak up, but proceeded to get ran over by the human steamroller that was Sabine Wren. "Or what if they love me so much that they smother me and we all end up hating each other in the end? Oh no!" she sat up straight as a gasp left her body. "Or even worse: What if they love me and I don't- or can't, love them?"

"That's a fair point," Zeb agreed, nodding as he placed his notebook on top of Sabine's sketchbook. He then decided to sit down beside her. "But you see, you could just be overthinking it. These people are perfectly fine and also perfectly none of the things that you just shouted at me about, so just keep your head up, okay? Besides," Zeb smirked wickedly then, "If they really are as bad as you say, which I completely doubt, then I'll just show them how good ol' Zeb wins a fist fight."

He clenched his fists and nodded, sure and confident in his ability to cause harm.

There was a comfortable silence between the two, (despite the fact that Zeb just threatened to beat random people up- or maybe because of that,) before Zeb spoke up again.

"Besides not wanting to follow rules, and besides the long multitude of reasons you just gave me, do you also not want to do this because of your parents?"

The teenager startled slightly, looking back over at her friend.

"I- kriff you, you're observant."

He shrugged. "Not really. To tell you the truth, it wasn't exactly hard to figure out. I just bother to pay attention sometimes, unlike most people here. Anyway, I'm guessing that I'm right, then?"

She nodded. "Unfortunately. I mean, I know my mom wasn't great, and I know I obviously can't be around my dad anymore, since he's, y'know... gone and all, but I don't really want anyone to take their places yet, you know? I wish they were here."

"I wish they were, too. You know you're not alone though, right? You'll get through this. You have Kanan, Hera, Ezra, and you have me. Remember that, since I'll probably never say it again, because you know I don't do... Emotions. Ever." 

The younger of the two chuckled and nodded. "No, I get it, don't worry. You know for a fact that I understand that. Who's supposed to come by to get me, again? Maybe I'll recognize their names... Or maybe not. I don't know."

"Well... I mean, technically I'm not supposed to tell you."

"Since when did you start following the rules? We literally just spoke about how neither of us want to."

Zeb shrugged. "Well, we aren't exactly alone right now. I don't wanna get caught saying something I shouldn't, y'know?"

"Come on!" Sabine groaned. "You can't just leave me hanging like that!"

He shrugged again. "Variety is the spice of life."

"Said who?"

"Said me!"

Sabine rolled her eyes. "No, you idiot. I meant before you. Who had that saying before you? It's been around forever."

"That's true," Zeb agreed. "I don't know who actually started the saying, though."

The younger of the two shrugged. "Whatever, just tell me! Who wants to adopt me? Maybe I'll recognize their names, at least."

Zeb smirked. "I'm gonna be really disappointed in you if you don't."

"Why?"

His smirk only seemed to intensify.

"It's Kanan and Hera."


	5. Hey Now.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka have some time to themselves (mostly)

"Aren't you  _excited?”_

Anakin was, quite literally, jumping up and down in his seat. He most definitely had the face of a man who was excited. He looked less like his twenty-something self and more like an outrageously giddy teenager, a little kid who hit about seven growth spurts too many, or a hyper active golden retriever puppy.

"It's today! We get to see Qui-Gon totally obliterate that stupid Darth Maul guy today! Ugh, that guy seems like such a pest. All Qui-Gon has to do is fight for a few seconds, then boom! Done. This is going to be one of the best days of our lives. Our lives, I'm telling ya, Snips! Oh, or until something better comes around, which won't be for a super long time, so we better savor this! I'm absolutely going to. Just watch me load up on seven hundred thousand pounds of snacks. Anakin then bounced a little more. "Like I said, I'm ready to savor this. Are you going to, Ahsoka? You better!"

"Even his name is stupid!" Ahsoka chimed in, nodding. "Not the candy, that's not what I meant," she said, as if that wasn't already kind of obvious, "I meant the guy. Like, come on, who names themselves Maul? Or worse, what if his parents gave him that horrible name at birth? What if they did it on purpose? For real though, what even is that? Does Maul have some super serious meaning? And what even is a Darth? Could it maybe be our rival dojo?”

"Idiots," Anakin said with a solemn nod. "I think they are the rival dojo, yeah." His small, minuscule bit of seriousness did not last long as he turned to grin at the third member of the group. "Come on, Obi-Wan! Jump with us!" He said this while jumping even more than he did before, if that was even possible. This time around, he even got out of his seat so he could hop around better. He grabbed at Ahsoka's arm as he got up. With a quick shrug. Ahsoka grabbed his arm so she could keep herself steady, and with that taken care of, she started jumping too.

Obi-Wan smiled at his friends but decided to stay nice and put. He had to be in charge and responsible- it wasn't a fun job, but somebody had to do it. Plus, nice and responsible was kind of his thing. He was really good at it, too. 

"I suppose I'm just not as enthusiastic as you two are," he lied. He was so excited. It would definitely be fun to see Qui-Gon win. His happy little smile likely told the others all of that and more.

"Nobody is," Ahsoka said, as if this was an absolute fact. (It probably was.) Then she grinned again and raced ahead of the other two before racing back only a few minutes later.

"Where's my belt?"

"You're wearing it, Snips," Anakin told her matter-of-factly.

She rolled her eyes. "No-"

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes, too, but for a different reason than her. "You'd forget your own head if it wasn't attached."

"Oh well," was the casual response. "I'll live."

"Until you forget something like your debit card, maybe."

"Please," scoffed Anakin. "She's always with me or you. And she's only like, nineteen. What could she possibly need it for?" Then, a second later, his face lit up and he smirked.

"Oh wait! Could she possibly need it for a date with-"

"Shut up, Anakin."

He did not shut up. Instead, he looked like he was going to start laughing at her. "You're literally three feet tall. Am I supposed to be scared of you?"

"Yes," she replied grumpily, crossing her arms. She stood up straight and got up on her tip toes. It didn't really help much. "Fear me." Then- "Wait. I'm only a few inches shorter than you, you idiot!"

"Now, Anakin," Obi-Wan began, "If she's only three feet tall, how tall is Master Yoda?"

"Three inches tall."

"That's not even in the realm of being possible-"

"You've made it!"

Rushing toward them was an excited Qui-Gon Jinn, who leaned in to give them all a big hug once he got close enough. "You're all here! Wait, that's new... who's this?"

His head was tilted downwards, (he was pretty tall and Ahsoka was very much not, in Anakin's opinion at the very least,) and he looked happy to see the newest member of the little group.

"Hi!" Ahsoka replied cheerfully. She even waved her hand in greeting. "I'm Ahsoka. I'm super glad to be here! I don't know you well at all, but I'm very excited to see you obliterate Darth Maul."

She ignored Obi-Wan telling her that she needed to be polite. Instead of listening to him, she talked a bit more, nudging the man with her elbow. "We all are!"

Ignoring him turned out to be a just fine decision judging by the way Qui-Gon was laughing anyway.

"You seem nice. It's good to meet you. I'll see you all after the competition?"

Their little trio waved goodbye to him as he walked away.

"Let's go get a good seat," Obi-Wan said, but not before shaking his head at the littlest one of the group. "And Ahsoka, really? Try to be a bit more polite next time, okay?"

"I just met the guy right before he's going to go and beat another guy into the floor. I'm sure it's fine, and he didn't seem the least bit offended. The man was laughing, Obi-Wan. That's not generally a sign that he thinks I'm being rude. You don't have to be all polite all the time, you know. Sometimes it's just better to be relaxed and less... focused on all the fine details."

"Oh trust me, he's not like this all the time," Anakin told her, flashing what might as well be his signature smirk at her,"You should meet Satine."

She perked up, interested piqued. The way her head jerked up could only be akin to a dog who had just heard the word 'walk." But for Ahsoka, the 'walk' was anything involving drama or a new relationship. (Unless it's about an Anakin relationship. Then she might not care too much at all.) "Who's Satine?" 

"No," was Obi-Wan's quick reply, completely dodging the curious inquiry with all the grace of a little kitten learning how to walk. "She's not meeting Satine. I should never have let you meet her, let alone a very impressionable teenage girl."

"I'm not impressionable."

"You know that saying, 'If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?' You take that literally. Last year you celebrated your birthday by jumping off a bridge because Anakin dared you to."

"It was a very good dare! And I was safe! I got a lot out of it."

"One of those things was certainly not maturity. I don't care if bungee jumping was technically safe, you nearly gave me a heart attack. It's dangerous!"

Ahsoka blinked at him in confused silence, then motioned toward the space around them. "Dojo. We're in a dojo. I am literally getting trained to knock people out."

"I- that's not what you're getting trained for!"

She shrugged. "I guess I keep getting the cool teachers, then. Like Anakin.It also explains why you've never taught me."

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan exclaimed, turning toward the man. "Back me up!"

"No way!" He replied. "You heard the girl, I'm one of the cool teachers. I'm not gonna risk getting that title taken away right now."

The oldest of the three simply frowned. "Let's go find our seats, shall we?" 

"Yes!" Ahsoka exclaimed, already properly distracted. "This is going to be amazing."


	6. Bad Guy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Qui-Gon and Maul fight.
> 
> It goes about as well as could be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow a 1500+ words chapter who am I

It was not amazing. Not one little bit.

"What the- is that even allowed? That doesn't look like it's allowed." Obi-Wan, who had gotten into the fight just as much- or possibly even more- than the other two, said. He grabbed a piece of popcorn, looked about ready to throw it, but frowned and refrained, simply choosing to eat it instead.

Anakin made a face as a stick came way too close to actually going through somebody else. He wasn't the only one to wince even as Qui-Gon gracefully side stepped it and kept moving as effortlessly as before. "I don't even know if any of that is legal."

Ahsoka turned her head away from the fight for a second to shoot an unimpressed look at Anakin before returning her concentration back to the scene in front of her.

"Since when did you care about legality? You break the rules all the time. You were in jail not too long ago. Isn't that breaking the law?"

"Yes," he agreed right away. "But breaking the rules and breaking the actual law are two very different things, Snips. I know that I myself have indeed broken the law before, and it definitely was for a violent crime, I gotta admit, but I never came close to anything life threatening. Never once." At that, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan both nodded their agreement. "And I'm pretty sure that guy is actually breaking the law in a deadly way."

"You're seeing that too, right?" A new voice asked, interrupting the duo's discussion as Qui-Gon hit the floor momentarily.

Rushing over to sit down beside Ahsoka, Barriss Offee yanked down her hood and passed her friend some popcorn, despite the fact that she was already holding some snacks. Between the three of them, (Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Anakin,) they must have had several pounds of junk food.

Anakin squinted at Barriss and took away some of said popcorn before Ahsoka could actually eat any of it.

"Hey, I wanted that!"

He shrugged. "You need to pay attention to the fight, not eat mysterious popcorn. Plus," he pointed at a large bag, "You already have some of your own. Eat that instead."

"Wha- you have a bag of it on the other side of you, you hypocrite!"

"Do as I say, not as I do."

"If I may," Barriss interrupted, sounding a bit impatient, "What is Darth Maul doing up there? This is just supposed to be a small presentation so the newer students know what is good to do. Whatever he's doing up there is definitely not that."

"I don't think any of that's legal, for what's supposed to be a presentation," Obi-Wan, unaware that had already been said, chimed in.

"It's kind of a competition, too," Ahsoka reminded him. "But it's not supposed to be like this."

"There's still absolutely no way that this is allowed," was the annoyed response.

There was maybe three seconds of calm on stage before Qui-Gon nearly fell off the stage as a result of Maul. Anakin practically growled.

"It's not. Why is nobody doing anything? Why is the council just sitting there? Shouldn't they be, I don't know, helping?"

"Master Windu is on the phone with somebody," Barriss let him know. "It's probably related to this."

"That would be great if he wasn't just sitting there."

Even as he said that, however, Mace got to his feet, as if to prove him wrong. The man then snapped his phone closed and threw it off to another council member.

"Skywalker!"

Anakin and Ahsoka looked at each other, then back at Mace.

"You're being called."

"Yes, I see that. What do you want?" Anakin called out.

All of their little group noticed how Mace closed his eyes and shook his head before speaking again.

"Get up there. We need you to get in the fight."

"Are you crazy?" Was the first thing to come out of Anakin's mouth.

"Get in the fight," Mace repeated, tone serious. He was trying, (and failing,) at not glaring.

"Wouldn't it help more if you did it? I'll still do it, of course, but you're still better than me." Then, quickly, since he surprised even himself by complimenting the older man, "For the time being, at least. I'll surpass you soon, just you wait."

Mace rolled his eyes but he was no longer glaring. Or at least not nearly as much. "Look, I'm glad you're not being too impossible about this, but you're already here and I need to get some backup. You won't have to fight for very long, I promise. Twenty minutes at the very most."

"I'll do it." Obi-Wan surprised the two by speaking, then proceeded to startle them even more as he came forward with a bright blue sword- an invention Anakin called a lightsaber- in hand.

"What? No! You're gonna get yourself killed!"

The older man didn't look very concerned over that. "What, and you're saying you won't if you go up there?" 

Mace shook his head in agreement with Anakin. "You'll let your feelings get in the way, Obi-Wan."

"I'll still be more efficient than Anakin right now-"

"Hey!"

"I'm not trying to insult you, I swear. But if I taught you successfully, then I clearly know what I'm doing."

Mace frowned deeply. "I don't want either of you to get hurt. Obi-Wan, you do have more experience than Anakin does, I'll admit. But you really might lose control of your emotions in this situation and I can't allow that to happen."

Once more, Obi-Wan didn't look like he cared much. He kept glancing over at the fight impatiently.

"But," The older man continued, "I'm going to go get help. I would make you do it but I'll be more efficient. Everyone else is more likely to listen to me.... so, unfortunately, I'll have to let you get up there," He then turned to face the youngest of the trio. "Okay. Now, Anakin, I can't believe I'm even saying this, but I'm trusting you to step in if things get too intense."

Anakin's response was a nod and an energetic grin. "You got it!"

Mace nodded, picked up his phone again, snapped it open, and ran off.

Obi-wan then looked up at fight again, and noticed that it only seemed to get worse. He sighed and looked out to the crowd with a quick and hopefully reassuring nod to his friends.

He took a deep breath and jumped right in.

*******

It was not going very well.

"Knock him out, Qui-Gon!" Anakin called out, panicked. His next words came out quickly and he didn't attempt to slow them down. "K.O, take down, roundhouse kick, cha-cha slide, just do something!"

Qui-Gon looked over and gave him a confused look for about half a second before deciding not to comment on it. Probably for the best, since there was really no time for him to comment on it, anyway.

He was losing, and he was losing badly. Even with the added advantage of Obi-wan helping and Anakin on standby, it wasn't doing much good.

And then, suddenly, it happened.

Darth Maul, holding his own sword tightly and as efficiently as he could, suddenly shoved it at (or even through) Qui-Gon Jinn's stomach, not even caring that the whole room could see.

The room went dead silent.

Obi-wan was the first to react.

He dropped his still activated lightsaber onto the floor and ran up to his injured friend.

"Qui-Gon! Qui-Gon, can you hear me?" 

The man somehow managed to lift his head up and nod.

"Oh thank goodness. Look, you'll get out of this, okay? Anakin is going to get some doctors right now."

Anakin, who had yet to react up until that point, nodded at the words and ran out of the room to do so. Ahsoka tossed him his bag on the way out.

Qui-Gon, on the other hand, was somehow shaking his head at Obi-wan. It was pretty impressive for how hurt he was.

"You didn't see. The sword. It- the sword went through."

"....Through?"

Another small nod.

Obi-wan nervously looked down, dread filling him up from the inside out, but sure enough, the sword had gone through the other man's stomach. Qui-Gon patted his friend's hand, remarkably calm for someone who had just been impaled.

"The doctors won't get here in time."

"Yes, they will!" Came the desperate reply.

"No. They'll take too long, you know that. Too far away."

"Anakin ran for the nearest hospital."

"He has a car."

"I know that!" Obi-wan replied, perhaps a bit too loud. "But his car hasn't been working that great lately, and he's panicking I'm sure, so he won't be thinking about his kriffing car! He's panicking, I'm panicking, for some reason you aren't, none of this makes any sense!"

"It will all be okay." 

"Yes! Because the doctors will get here in time," he replied quickly. He couldn't bare to think of what would happen if they didn't.

Qui-Gon simply shook his head yet again. That seemed to be his go to response.

"Yes, they will. You'll be fine, just you watch."

"Obi-wan, it will all be okay. Trust me." 

He closed his eyes. 

And just then, Anakin threw open the door. He burst through it, slowing down just enough so the three doctors behind him could do their jobs.

"We're here, we made it! Everyone, get out of my way. Ahsoka, help make a path."

She yanked Barriss up and the two worked together to get everyone out of the way.

(It involved a lot of shoving.)

The girls had been worried, understandably. But seeing Anakin come through with the doctors made them think that maybe it would all be okay.

That is, until they looked up at Obi-wan, who was crying. He frantically motioned for Anakin to come over as fast as he could.

And he did, but not without wide eyes and nervous energy practically surrounding him. He knelt down beside his friend and observed the damage that was done.

At first, what really happened didn't really register. He stared blankly down at Qui-Gon, until realization came quickly crashing down.

"Oh, no."


	7. 3 AM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanan gets a concerning call at 3 in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does this suck please tell me

"Hello? Who's calling me this early in the morning?" Kanan tried to get his words to come out well, but it was so early. He was positive that the end result was just a large, jumbled mess. Sitting up straight in his bed, he placed his phone on his knee and fumbled around for the speaker button.

"It's me," came Ahsoka's quiet response. Kanan quickly turned up the volume just to see that it wasn’t his phone that was the issue- Ahsoka’s voice was just abnormally quiet. “Hey. Did I wake you up?"

"Uh," Kanan croaked out, before clearing his throat in a desperate attempt to sound awake.  He quietly took a big drink of the glass of water that someone had left at his bedside table. (Read: Probably Hera.) It didn't really work. He still sounded as croaky as ever. “No, of course not. What's up? Is everything okay?"

When did I become the person Ahsoka Tano calls for help at three in the morning? Kanan couldn't help but wonder.

"Can you pick me up?"

His first instinct was to groan loudly. It was three in the morning, and the only thing she calls for is to make him give her a ride? “Did Anakin get arrested again? I love watching his life unfold, usually. It's such chaos. I wonder why he doesn't have his own reality show?”

"It wasn't him," Ahsoka replied, ignoring everything else her friend had said.

Kanan nodded as if he could see right through her. Spoiler alert- he could not. "So,” he began, tone of voice bordering on annoyed, “I’m guessing it was you that got arrested?"

"No, it wasn't! Darth Maul, the guy who fought Qui-Gon at the presentation, got way too rough... and I think that was on purpose. He’s so mean. He hurt Qui-Gon and managed to get himself both arrested and banned from the dojo for life. You know, if he ever gets out of prison, that is. I think it was prison? You know, I’m not entirely sure. Which, honestly, either way, I doubt he will. He messed with the wrong-"

"That's all fine and dandy," Kanan interrupted , somewhat snappily, successfully cutting off Ahsoka's rambling. "But it's three AM and I'm tired. Do you need a ride or not? What's going on here?"

Ahsoka sighed and gave a calm explanation of sorts. “Yes. Can you pick me up?"

He didn't hesitate anymore, finally deciding to pay attention, (more than he already was, at least. It’s hard to grasp things when you’ve just woken up.) “Fine, I can do that. Where are you?"

"Coruscant Hospital."

"At... three in the morning?" The man sounded slightly confused. Who could blame him? “I understand why Qui-Gon would be there, but not you. Are you hurt too!”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, even though Kanan couldn't see her. It's the principle of the thing. "No, I’m not hurt, and yes, at three in the morning. Will you please get over that? I know it's really early, but you know I wouldn't call you right now if it wasn't important. So seriously, can you please hustle it and get here?"

"I need to know if I should take my car or if I need to take Hera's. How many people need to get picked up?"

"Uh... four or five people. Possibly Mace Windu, Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Barriss Offee, and you already know who I am."

"Why that many people? Are all of you hurt? Does someone need to stay the night?"

"No. Only one of us got hurt, don't worry. Just please?" 

Kanan picked up his car keys. "Just give me a few minutes, Ahsoka. I need to borrow Hera's car. Okay?"

"Okay. Thank you, I'll see you soon. Bye."

He nodded in approval as the words call ended flashed on the screen. He then shoved his phone into his pocket and walked downstairs to the guest room that Hera was staying in for the night.

"Hera!" he called out, knocking on the bedroom door. While rubbing her eyes, the girl opened her door and blinked at him. 

"You know I love you, but you're already really lucky that I was awake already. Just be glad I don't have to fight you right now. So, what do you need this early in the morning? Is there an emergency?"

"For one, you would never fight me, you love me too much. And for two, there kinda is an emergency, actually."

Wide eyes looked over at him. "What is it?"

"You know that Qui-Gon Jinn guy? He's a pretty high ranking member at the dojo. I think I've mentioned him before."

She nodded. "You have. What about him?"

"He got really hurt, apparently, so his friends took him to the hospital. They've been there for a while now and apparently they need a ride home. Can I borrow your car?"

She nodded again. "Sure, but why don't you just use yours?"

"Because my car is stupid and I'd rather it not risk it breaking down on me tonight. Plus, yours has a lot more space and I need that."

Hera considered this for a second or two, then shrugged. "Yeah, that's true. Try to be back soon, okay?"

Kanan grinned and leaned down to kiss her. He then waved goodbye as he took off running. "I'll try my very best. Thanks!"

*****

It didn't take him long to get there. He got the car parked quickly and raced toward the waiting room where the group was.

"Oh thank goodness!" Barriss exclaimed as she saw him. She quickly waved a wandering Ahsoka over. The two girls whispered something to each other, but Kanan decided to just ignore it. There were much more important questions to ask.

"Ahsoka," he called out, watching worriedly as the girl jogged over to him, breaking away from her other friend. "What's going on? You never said." 

"I've already told you," a frowning Ahsoka replied. "Qui-Gon got hurt and we all need a ride."

"There's more to it then that though, isn't it?"

She didn't answer that, not at first. It was obvious by the look on her face and the way she was looking everywhere but at him that something was seriously wrong. So instead he looked over to the other members of the group.

Barriss was biting her lip nervously, Mace was frowning at his phone, Anakin had his arms wrapped around Obi-Wan, Obi-wan was gripping the younger man's arm as he talked to the doctor standing in front of him, and Ahsoka was snapping at everyone who tried talking to her.

That was probably why Kanan was still completely lost.

"Ahsoka," Kanan repeated slowly. He had a feeling that he wouldn't like the answer of his question but at the same time he really needed to know, so he grabbed her shoulder and made her look him in the eyes.

"What's going on, Ahsoka?"

She glared at him with all the anger and ferocity that she could. Which, despite her small size, was pretty easily achievable.

There probably would have been a more dramatic reaction if Kanan wasn't used to that.

Of all the conclusions he thought up in his head, Ahsoka managed to find the one that he was dreading the most.

"Qui-Gon Jinn is dead."


	8. Someone New.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Qui-Gon's funeral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is basically all Obi-Wan and Satine interacting I'm sorry

"Who's the woman?"

"Which one? There's a lot of people here, you know. This place is completely crowded."

Qui-Gon Jinn's funeral was an unpleasant affair. Everyone was understandably sad, the whole place was filled up the brim, everyone was pretty much crushed together like sardines, and poor Obi-Wan was barely given any time to himself at all since people were so worried about him. It made sense, and he loved his friends, but what the man really needed was a bit of alone time. Maybe some rest and relaxation, too.

"Obi-Wan! Where's Obi-Wan? I need to see him! I need to know he's- Obi! There you are!"

Looking up, the man was pleased, (and surprised,) to see one of his best friends, Satine Kryze, rushing toward him so fast he was quite frankly, a little bit concerned.

Whether he was concerned for himself or for her, the man had no idea at this point.

His confusion must have shown on his face somehow, because she was speaking before he could even begin to ask his questions, even if not all of them were actually directly for her. He did want to know why she was going so fast that she seemed like she was Sonic the Hedgehog, though. However, that could wait. He stood there and let the woman speak instead.

"I know that you must be confused. Let me explain, okay?"

Instead of immediately listening to that, a small bundle of words came out. "I- Anakin told me that he called you and let you know that the funeral was today. He also said that you were way too busy and couldn't make it. Apparently," he motioned at her there, "I can see that part wasn't quite correct."

"Obi-Wan," the blonde sighed, shaking her head sadly. "Did you really think I wouldn't find a way to be here with you?" 

"You were swamped with work. Important work, too. You're a leader, there's an election coming up- I know that things like that are the main priority."

She shook her head again. "Oh, no, that's not quite right. Or at least, that's not always right. Not today." When the look of confusion persisted, she sighed. "Obi, if that were true, why would I be here?" Her voice was uncharacteristically soft as she said, "You're my main priority, Obi-Wan. You always have been."

A soft and sweet smile was the only response at first. Then, Obi-Wan's tone of voice changing slightly to match her's, to which she smiled, he asked- "Did Anakin tell you what happened?"

"No... He told me that Qui-Gon got into a training accident. Slipped and fell over something, I guess? Technical issues. Anakin was... unusually vague, actually. He gave me a lot of answers, a whole lot of jumbled up words, but he wouldn't actually elaborate on them. When I demanded that he do it and actually tell me something or I would get my answers from someone else- and I absolutely could, which I'm sure that you're aware of- he wouldn't say anything more."

Obi-Wan scoffed before rolling his eyes in Anakin's general direction, but the younger man didn't seem to notice. (since Anakin was talking to a brunette woman, gazing at her with love-filled eyes, he didn't even see, let alone pay attention. He probably wouldn't have cared anyway. He's become immune to a lot, if not all, of Obi-Wan's glares. That time was no exception.)

"It wasn't a training accident at all. It didn't even happen during training. You were told wrong."

Satine blinked. "What? That's odd. Then, why did he make me believe so?"

"He didn't want to give you cause to worry."

"I already am worried. I have been sense before I got a phone call from him. I'll be worried for weeks now if you don't tell me. I'll be worried about you for a while after this either way, but still. What is it?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "Have you heard of Darth Maul? From one of the other Dojos?"

"No, I don't believe I have. Who is he?"

"I'm fairly certain that he's a Sith."

"What? What's that?" 

"Oh, right! I forgot that you wouldn't know that. He's a member of the Sith, the rival dojo from downtown. I'm not fully sure why, but the Sith decided that Maul needed to fight Qui-Gon in the upcoming match."

"That's next week though, isn't it?"

Obi-Wan nodded.

"I highly doubt I'll be attending, but that's besides the point. Maul attacked Qui-Gon during a presentation. That was probably what Anakin didn't say. I think he was waiting on me to tell you. I don't think he wanted to overstep this time around. Anyway, the rest..." He motioned around them. "I'm sure you can figure it out."

For about a solid minute, there was silence between the two adults.

"Murder," Satine whispered, stunned. "Murder. Who else knows about this? Who was there?"

"Likely almost everyone here knows, if not all of them. There was a lot of people there at the time too, but I'm not sure exactly how many. All of that was why it was so hard to find me. I've been surrounded by somebody at every moment."

"People are concerned. I'm concerned. You can't really blame us all, can you?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, of course not. It's just all so exhausting. He was my master. He taught me everything that I know. I knew something was bound to happen eventually. I just... never figured he would go out like this."

She gripped his arm, trying to catch his attention again. (Little did she know that he was paying all the attention in the world to her.) "Tell me that you pressed charges against Maul."

He looked at her like she suddenly grew another head. "Stars, Satine. Of course I did!"

"Where is he now?"

"Prison. He won't be getting out for a long time... Even if he found a way to try."

The concerned look was back, even though it never really left. "What did you do, Obi-Wan? Tell me."

"My master was impaled right in front of me. What do you think I did? Just sat there and did nothing?"

Satine chuckled and moved her hand up toward his face. "No, Obi. You never sit down and do nothing, even and especially when you should."

He didn't correct her. It was practically a fact.

"Seriously, you can tell me. I won't judge you, I swear. Not about this. What happened next?"

He sighed heavily. "I attacked him. He got sent to the hospital. He'll be lucky to even walk."

Satine seemed to accept that and keep her word. "I'm not saying that was the best thing to do-"

"If you were in my situation, I'm sure you would give in to a fit of violence too-"

"I understand why you did it."

The sudden acceptance seemed to stun the man, shown by the way he went silent at her words.

"Obi-Wan," Satine began again, softly, gripping his hands with her own. "I'm here for you always. I hope you know that."

Silence. At first, he didn't seem to know what to say.

Then he nodded, reaching forward to grab her hand, smiling softly at her.

"I know that now."

A/N: this whole chapter was nothing but Obitine, whoops. (did i spell that right?)


	9. You're Gonna Go Far, Kid.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra is a very impatient person, and for once, it goes in his favor.

"Ezra, wake up. It's time to go."

Ezra groaned and kicked out at whoever was standing in front of the bed. He had no idea if he actually landed the kick or not- if he had, the person gave absolutely no indication of it. He then quickly fumbled around to find his shoes, which were luckily exactly where he had left them the other night. After quickly forcing them on his feet and (hopefully) landing a few karate moves, he finally started to calm down just the slightest bit. The only reason he even considered it, however, was simply because he recognized whoever had spoke.

It did take him a little bit to figure it out, though.

"Who what when where why-"

"That last English test really messed you up, didn't it?"

Ezra yawned, flipping over to face Sabine more directly. "How would you know? You aren't even in my grade. You're ditching me and leaving for high school now! Traitor."

"I know, but you just recited the five w's, which is why I assumed that school is messing you up." Then she looked down and frowned at him. "And I'm not ditching you. What, were you expecting me to fail eighth grade so we could do it together this year?"

He shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. Hey, why did you wake me up, anyway? It's only," he looked over at the clock, "Eight in the morning. Neither of us have anything that we need to do this early. Couldn't you have let me sleep in?"

"No. Kanan and Hera are here."

The boy shrugged again, not seeming too concerned by that fact. He was probably too tired to care much. "They always are. Everyone knows this. People have started getting jealous because of how often that they're here, and I kind of love it. I'm sure they wouldn't have minded if you hung out with them alone today."

"Not what I meant, Ezra. And they definitely would have minded. They like you too, you know."

"Then what did you mean? That Kanan and Hera would be super offended if I slept in?" He yawned again. "Because I really doubt that they would care."

Sabine rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant either. You really aren't catching on to things very quickly this morning. What I meant was that they're here, but they aren't alone."

"So? That's not too weird. Kanan used to be alone for a long time, but then he got a girlfriend out of nowhere. I don't know how he managed that. Just look at him. Under his stern 'I am an adult' act, he's just a giant dork. Also, Hera's only been around for like, a month. Two at the most."

She didn't acknowledge a majority of that. "Ezra, no. They're signing paperwork."

That got Ezra's attention. He rubbed at his eyes and sat up a bit straighter, trying his best to listen. "Paperwork? I thought they couldn't foster you."

"You're right, they can't... but where did you hear that? Was it Zeb? He can't keep my secrets very well."

"Not important," the boy shrugged it off. "What, are they too young or something? Don't they have to be a certain age?"

Sabine thought for a second, then nodded. "Probably. They're only eighteen."

The surprise in Ezra's voice was obvious. "Woah! What? I thought Hera was around your age!"

"No, she's a full four years older than me still. Which brings me back to my question of why they brought some random woman in to do paperwork with them. And why they keep looking in our direction. They aren't as subtle as they probably think that they are."

Ezra, who was known to not be the slightest bit subtle, looked over at the group of adults to do the same to them. "Should we go and interrupt?"

"I want to say yes," Sabine said sadly, "But no, we probably shouldn't. What if it's bad news? If we go and ask what's going on, we might have to hear it all sooner."

"But what if it's good news? What if this is great news, like you getting adopted? Maybe you'll even get to live with Kanan! It'll be amazing. If we go and interrupt, we can find out right now! Come on, let's go!" The boy definitely got himself excited, judging by the way he bounced as he spoke.

"I know what you're doing. You're trying to make me agree to go down there with you. It's not going to work. I'm going to stay here and wait patiently, unlike a little-"

"Well, that's great," called Ezra's sarcastic response, which was a sudden contrast from how excited he was seconds earlier. "And I hear you. Really, I do. I'm just not going to listen to you."

"Yes you will. You love me too much not to."

"You sure about that?"

Then he ran off. 

"Little brat."

Sabine ran off after him anyway.

********

"I'm sure about this, Depa."

Depa Billaba looked down skeptically at Kanan. "You're only eighteen. You don't know what you're doing. Not in school, not in your own relationship, not in life. You should probably be in college by now, not trying to convince me to adopt two teenagers."

"Maybe. But college isn't for me right now." He paused for a second, then began speaking again. "How about we make a deal?"

She squinted at him suspiciously. "I feel like you already have a plan. Or at least half of a plan." Then she sighed and nodded. "Fine, lay it on me."

Kanan grinned. "Good! Okay, so Hera here-" he motioned to his girlfriend, "-Has agreed to help me out, too. I really believe in these kids, okay? They could really go far and do well in life, if they only had someone to look after them. That someone should be me! Look, it's only a few years until I can legally be in charge of them, anyway."

"The kids are fine here, but you do make a good point, I have to admit. But what says that I have to adopt them, or even bring them in to stay with us?"

"Nothing does," he agreed easily. "But can't we at least try? They need somewhere to go, and we have somewhere that works great! Plus, I can be like their cool older brother or something."

"I already have one of those, sorry!" Sabine's voice called out suddenly. To say that nobody expected her to be there would be an understatement.

Poor Kanan almost fell out of his chair.

No, scratch that. He definitely fell out of his chair.

"Wait, what?"

He looked over at the doorway to see a grinning Ezra and a smirking Sabine standing there, clearly listening to the whole conversation that just went on.

Depa just looked highly amused as she looked down at Kanan. She eventually reached out a hand to help him up. He nodded gratefully at her as he scrambled to pick his chair up.

"Anyway," Depa smiled, looking back over at the teenagers. "All of us wanted to have this conversation with you two, but we thought you were asleep."

"Nope, we're definitely not!" Ezra replied eagerly.

"Yes, clearly. Now both of you, sit down. We have a lot to discuss."


	10. Good Life.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra and Sabine get some good news.

"I FREAKING CALLED IT, SABINE!"

The sudden outburst startled Depa and Hera, who both jumped slightly before realizing the shout had not come from the other kids that were around them, but had instead come from Ezra, who was shaking his best friend in glee. Whether it was glee for himself or someone else was a question that was very quickly answered.

"Sabine! I knew it! I'm so happy for you!" He then kept on excitedly shaking her. 

Sabine, who was much calmer in comparison, looked over at him and grinned. "I know! Thank you!" She then managed to pry her arms away from his shaking so she could give him a small hug. 

Ezra hugged her back really tightly, but he eventually let her down. Once he did, however , he simply kept on jumping up and down. He happily shook her shoulders to get her attention, as if she hadn't been aware of everything happening in the room. (And as if he hadn't already been shaking her.)

The small, happy, duo was suddenly interrupted by someone walking in, even though the teenagers hardly even noticed at first. They were so busy talking and giggling with each other that they didn't realize that they actually had company.

Depa cleared her throat several times, but when that didn't work in the slightest bit, she had to nudge them all so they would look toward the doorway.

"What's the problem- oh, hey Zeb," Kanan, who had gotten distracted by the other two teenagers, greeted. It took a bit, but it looked like he was finally realizing that he was there. "What's up?"

"That's what I want to know," he replied roughly. Nobody really took much notice to the fact that he was also holding a frying pan. Nobody payed any attention to the fact that holding a frying pan would be normal if he was cooking... but he wasn't very good at cooking. When nobody questioned him, he simply started talking again as if nothing happened. "Anyway, I heard someone screaming. Is everything okay? Is anybody hurt? I know first aid."

"I'm getting adopted. No first aid is needed," Sabine explained. She nudged her head over toward Ezra, (who had finally let go of her.) He smiled. "This one is really happy for me. That's why you heard screaming. No need to worry though, nothing's wrong."

He raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her, having remembered a previous conversation that had taken place. Despite the fact that he had talked about how bad he was with emotions, he still took the chance to check up on her. "You sure?"

Her response was to mumble an uncertain sounding, "Um, yeah. Thanks for asking."

"Third question- why is Ezra more excited than you are? I know why you aren't bouncing off the walls, but I don't get why he is. Is he involved in this? Am I missing something? I better not be." 

"Kanan, Hera, and Depa are good people," the blue haired boy said genuinely, while turning to look over at them as he spoke. He then turned to focus on Zeb again. "Sabine's gonna do great things and probably become a famous artist someday. She should do that with people who really care about her like I do. Not as much as I do, because that's pretty much impossible, but as close to that as they can. It's amazing, it really is. I want the best for her forever." Zeb stared at Ezra, looking both baffled and proud at the sudden maturity and sincerity the barely teenage boy was showing.

Sabine smiled at him, sweet and true with her eyes watering from the sudden outpour of emotions from both her and her best friend. "That's so sweet, Ez, I love you so much!" She took a pause before she talked again, because when she did, she sounded all choked up. Suddenly jumping forward to crush Ezra in a hug, she let out a heartfelt whisper.

"I'm going to miss you so much. You have no idea how-"

"I think you got the wrong idea here, kids," Kanan told the duo, but the comment was aimed mainly at the blueberry-haired boy. When his head snapped over to the oldest of the three, Sabine stopped talking with a frown. She most certainly wasn't pleased at being interuptted in the middle of a necessary heartfelt speech!

Both teenagers stopped, confused, to stare at him.

"What do you mean?" a cautious sounding Ezra asked, gripping Sabine's hand tighter. Without question, she did the same.

"Did nobody hear what I said before Zeb walked in?"

Hera shook her head at him before the kids could answer. "You told me what's going on, not them. I don't know why, but you did." 

"Oh, right! That's why they don't know!"

Depa facepalmed.

"What's... going on then?" Ezra asked anxiously, slowly moving to sit down again. "Did I get something wrong?" 

The woman shook her head at him. "Yes and no. The lovebirds over there kind of forgot to tell you something important."

"Can it wait?"

"Can my headache lessen a bit before he starts screaming again?" Kanan mumbled, or at least tried to. Hera slapped his arm before he could fully finish the sentence.

"I only scream when it's good news!" The boy said defensively. Turns out he got the gist of what his friend said anyway.

Zeb scoffed. "That's a lie. I've once seen you yell when you stubbed your toe. Then once when you thought you won the lottery."

"Isn't he a bit too young for that?" Depa asked, frowning.

The rest of the room stared back at her and spoke in unison:

"Yes."

"Did... did he not know that?"

Ezra blinked at them with wide, innocent eyes. "What? I've never even gambled! Or played the lottery! Why on Earth would I do that?"

Zeb stared at him. "Yes you did? I caught you doing it!"

"I didn't know it was illegal! I was young and stupid!"

"You still are, but this was only two months ago!"

"Wha-" Ezra huffed and threw his hands in the air. "If you knew that I did it, why didn't you just turn me in?"

"So you want to go to jail?"

"No, of course not!" He shook his head rapidly. "But I don't want to break the law!"

Poor Zeb looked like he was going to lose it.

"You were breaking the law the day I met you!" Then he turned to glare at a laughing Sabine. "Don't you dare laugh, you came in the day after him, having just gotten arrested."

"What did she do?" Kanan asked her. Depa shook her head at him.

"I don't want to know. I don't want to regret this. Let's just not ask, please."

The girl in question seemed to go along with that, seeing as her first response was to nod.

"That's probably for the best. Oh, wait a minute. What was the news you had for Ezra?"

"I almost forgot!" He ignored Depa facepalming again as he turned around a bit to face Ezra.

"You're getting adopted too."

A/N: I'm sorry if this feels stiff or just all around bad, I tried writing this while unfocused and with a headache.


	11. That's What I Like.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra and Sabine check out Depa's house.

"Take off your shoes, please."

Ezra, who had been about to run right into the house without any hesitation, paused once he heard her words. He slowly sat down and made a move to take off his shoes as he glanced curiously up at Depa, who looked pleased. "Okay. No problem, but why?"

"Because I said so." A few seconds after she said that, both her and Ezra made a face. She then paused. She shook her head and said, "Actually, never mind that. If I tell you that again, just assume something's wrong. I hated that saying as a kid and I still hate it to this day. But anyway, the real answer is that it's a rule in this house. I don't want you tracking in mud or anything like that."

"You came here with us, you know that we don't have anything on our shoes," Sabine called out, a bit more confused, skeptical, and suspicious than her new brother was. Her new brother was simply going with the flow and having a grand ol' time getting adjusted to their new surroundings. Sabine, on the other hand, did not quite have that same happy go lucky attitude. She was just a bit older than Ezra, so by default, she had seen more in life, and learned to be slightly skeptical from that.

Depa simply waved her off. She didn't seem to care that the teenage girl sounded suspicious. "Oh well. I know you don't have anything right now, but you will some day down the road. I once saw someone come in this house covered in mud from head to toe. He had been helping get a car unstuck! This was right after a major flood... anyway, ignore my ramblings. Please just go with it, okay?"

The girl gave a quick shrug that passed as relaxed and unconcerned to the untrained eye, but Ezra knew better. He kept shooting her worried glances as she cautiously nodded and started to wander around the living room. After a few seconds, the blue-haired boy took after her and trod loudly behind her, footsteps seeming to echo throughout the quiet house. The contrast between the two was huge. Depa, who was standing quite a few steps ahead of them both, was likely having a difficult time keeping up. Who could blame her?

The living room was nice and well kept, with lots of souvenirs and trinkets hanging all around the place, along with several old looking paintings and pictures held in frames. Several things sat on top of a bookshelf near a corner of the room, right near where a coat or two had been lazily flung on a kitchen chair. The kitchen table that the chair was nearby was filled with cups and textbooks, along with a stray cup and straw.

"Here's our humble abode!" Kanan called out, spreading his arms out and motioning at the space around him. He grinned proudly. "Ain't she grand?"

"Yes," Ezra smiled. The boy then wandered off toward the bookshelf and picked up one of the only books that was actually in there. He had been expecting it to be full, or at least half full, because why would you just leave a bookshelf empty? Doesn't that defeat the whole point? (The teen would later find out that Kanan and a few others had cleared it out in the hopes that Ezra and Sabine were bookworms. It was lucky that one of them was, then.) He began flipping through it as he asked- "Hey, what room are we gonna be staying in while we stay here? If you mentioned it, I might have missed it... sorry?"

The older of the two facepalmed. "Oh yeah, I knew I forgot about something!"

Hera rolled her eyes in the background, but had apparently decided not to make a comment. (Good on her.) Nobody would have blamed her if she did, though. Kanan might not have appreciated if she spoke up, but that's about it.

Kanan determinedly ignored the fact that ran through his head as he yanked Ezra along. He could hear Sabine mumble something to Depa before she began reluctantly following the other two teenagers.

The walls of the bedroom they all entered were bright blue, close to Ezra's hair color but not quite it, since the boy's hair was a bit darker. This room was less done up than the living room was, simply holding a bed, a few random paintings that crookedly laid on the wall, the carpet all of this was placed on, a small dresser, and a little bedside table.

The boy seemed pretty pleased with it, though.

"Is this for me? This is my room, right? That would make sense, because Depa was-"

Kanan and Hera both nodded. Hera was the one who decided to answer the hopeful and eager sounding question, though.

"I think it is, yeah. We'll need to do some rearranging before you can really stay in here full time, though, so you might end up on the couch a few nights while everything gets sorted out. I really hope you don't mind."

"Wait, why though? I don't see a problem here."

Kanan and Hera smiled slightly. Once again, it was the latter of the two that replied.

"Well, this is where I usually sleep when Kanan wants me to stay over for the night."

"Yeah, I doubt that's where you stay at night," Sabine mumbled quietly under her breath. Ezra frowned for a second, confused, before he came to a quick realization and slapped her on the arm. He then brightly turned back to face the couple as if nothing had happened. Judging by the quick glance the duo shot each other, they noticed the fast exchange.

"Ignore her!" Ezra grinned as Sabine frowned. He tried his best to ignore that. "Uh, anyway, you were saying?"

Depa smiled and shook her head fondly. She had a feeling she had her hands full with those two, but it was very likely going to be worth it. "Anyway, you were right. Ezra, this is your room. Sabine, yours is down the hall. Come with me, I'll take you there. I think you might like it."

The girl nodded and followed the older woman down the short hallway until they got to the aforementioned room.

It was pretty much the same as the last one was. The only real difference between them was that this time the walls were white and the closet was a little bit bigger, but not by much.

"This is all yours!"

Sabine smiled, seeming satisfied as she looked around the room. "Thank you so much. Really. I know it might not like I'm grateful about it since I've been so quiet-"

"Everyone always seems quiet in comparison to Ezra," was Depa's wise (and accurate) response.

She nodded. "That's very true. He's the loudest person I've ever met and probably ever will meet. Hey, why are these walls white when Ezra's are blue? I don't mind, I'm just curious."

"There's nothing wrong with that, it's a good thing. Also, to answer your question, it's because I figured you might like to paint on it or something like that."

A surprised look greeted the woman. "Really?"

Depa nodded. "Really." Then she hesitated before finishing her sentence. "....Also, they were already white."


	12. Play Nice.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabine and Ezra bicker and fight. All is well.

"I love you but I'm going to stab you in the leg."

"What? No!" Ezra backed away from his best friend, holding one hand out defensively. "I love you too but I'm not gonna just let you stab me! What the heck, who just does that? Calm down, Sabine! You crazy person. Hey, what's the right word for that, again? I forgot."

Sabine frowned. "It's a plastic fork, not a knife! Geez, you're acting like I'm a serial killer! Chill out already... also, the word that you're thinking of is psychopath, I believe. I'm not one, though!"

Ezra crossed his arms, looking incredibly unconvinced. "Oh right, because you of all people would just peacefully fight me and let me leave with no harm done." After a second or two of thought, his frown got just a bit bigger. "I don't want you to stab me, even if it won't hurt me! Besides, despite what you're saying, isn't that like, exactly what a psychopath does?"

"Hey, I never said peaceful. I just said I'm not crazy or anything like you seem to believe I could be. I didn't mention hurting you, either! You did, you idiot! In fact, I just said that I wouldn't hurt you, but you don't believe me as usual. Also, how on Earth do you peacefully fight someone? Is that even a thing? Is that even possible? I don't think so! That would mean that it's not even fighting, and I very much intend on-"

"Hey hey hey, cut it out! Nobody is doing anything to anybody else! Cut it out!" Depa yelled suddenly, quickly speed-walking into the room with a confused Kanan trailing right behind her, looking totally lost.

"What's the issue?" Kanan asked worriedly, sighing right after he said it. He pinched a finger on his nose and shook his head, closing his eyes right as he did so. "I don't want to know, do I?" Before anyone could answer his question, he shook his head again, having seemingly made up his mind. "You know what? No. I really don't, but I unfortunately feel that it's necessary. Is it?"

The two kids pointed at each other in silence, not answering the question directly, but the accusatory way they pointed at each other pretty much gave Kanan all the confirmation that he needed.

"Well, I heard Sabine threatening to stab Ezra, and Ezra doesn't want to be stabbed. There's something about a plastic fork and one of you thinks that the other is being a psychopath. That's all I know about the situation, and although that's all I really want to know, somebody needs to fess up. So, are either of you gonna fill me in?"

"Oh, and hand over the knife," Depa said suddenly, pointing at a knife that was sitting on a table nearby. It had gone completely unnoticed by everyone in the room until she spoke up.

For some odd reason, that just got Sabine more upset. She didn't even see the knife, unlike the others, so she had immediately assumed they were all accusing her of something. (They were not. She did not know that, though.) "What are you talking about?I don't have a knife, I swear! Kriff, you fight one kid and that's all you become known for!"

"Please just let Kanan and I know what's going on so we can fix it. Also, we never said that you had a knife. We mentioned it because there's one right beside you, though."

A beat of silence. Then, slowly, maybe even hesitantly, Ezra raised his hand.

"We aren't in school, Ezra," Depa reminded him, shaking her head. "You don't need to raise your hand. What is it?"

"I, um, I kinda know why Sabine's so mad at me... I might have done something. Might, though! It's not a guarantee and it's nothing big, I swear."

Kanan raised an eyebrow. His voice came out incredibly deadpan as he spoke up. "What did you do?"

"I was talking to the person she likes and now she assumes that I said something bad about her, which I didn't! Also, this is slightly unimportant, but I might have stolen her chips."

A loud Sabine screeched out a, "You're going to ruin my reputation, Ezra!"

He threw his hands in the air and sputtered. "Wha- I'm just- you're fourteen! Only one year older than me! What kind of reputation could you possibly have?"

"I already told you. It's a knife related kind. And it doesn't need you ruining it!"

"I'm not ruining it! Plus, why would you want people to think that you're armed and dangerous? Couldn't that just get you in trouble? Maybe even arrested! Sabine, I swear-"

"Okay!" Kanan cut in loudly. As he continued, he tried his best to sound stern and serious, but they could all see him trying his hardest not to look amused at the whole situation. It's not often that you see two kids trying to fight each other with plastic knives. Or, well, maybe it is, but it wasn't for him. "Okay, I've heard enough. It's been one day. Only one! Why are you two like this?"

"Which one of us?"

"Both of you," he sighed dramatically, rubbing his hand over his face in exasperation. "And since when do you talk in unison?"

"Never," they spoke in unison. They then glared at each other briefly before turning back to face the two adults.

"So can you guys please try not to kill each other?" Kanan asked, apparently deciding to just drop the serious and strict act he had going on.

"They've only been here a day and they want murder," Depa mumbled with a huff.

Sabine, having heard that, blinked at her innocently. "Murder? Who said anything about that?"

"Stabbing people, even if it is with a plastic fork, isn't nice Sabine!" Ezra pouted. "And neither is murder, for that matter."

"I never even-"

Luckily for everyone involved, one of the phones started ringing, preventing them from arguing any further.

"Hey," Kanan answered the phone casually, as if he didn't have to keep two kids from fighting each other. "What's up? Don't you usually text me?"

"Are you busy right now?" Ahsoka's voice asked from the other end of the line as she ignored the question.

Kanan then looked back at the bickering kids. "Well..."

"Are you busy?"

"Nah," he finally decided on, ignoring the protests that had begun. "Nah, I'm free. Why are you asking?"

"Well, something's going on with Shmi. I'm a bit worried about her. She wants Anakin and I out of the house."

"Is that normal?"

"Nope," came Ahsoka's calm response. "Usually she's trying to keep us in the house. But I have about seven hundred brothers so that's a little hard to do."

A pause. Then, "I really hope you're exaggerating because that would make holidays really hard to handle."

He could hear the smile in her voice as she laughed.

"Duh, I'm exaggerating! Anyway, I've got some of my brothers with me, wanna bring Hera and those kids you mentioned? We can all get together and go wreck something maybe."

Kanan sighed. "Ahsoka, it's a true miracle that you've never gotten arrested."

"Yeah I know. You in or not?"

"Oh heck yeah, I'm in."


	13. Everybody Talks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone meets up at Ahsoka’s house and gets ready for what is most certainly going to be a wild ride.

"Hey, you must be Sabine Wren!"

Sabine quickly looked around to find whoever had spoke. It didn't take her long to spot a dark skinned white-and blue haired girl, who was smiling brightly and waving one hand in the air. Since she saw that, she was satisfied, and walked off in the other girl's direction. She walked over to the speaker and nodded, handing over several bags of chips as she did so. 

"I brought some snacks."

"I see that," the speaker, Ahsoka, nodded, smiling. "Thanks! We're gonna have a big group today, so having a bunch of food is probably a good idea. Oh, I'm Ahsoka Tano, by the way. Oh! Also, just so you know, I've heard of you from friends. And... friends of friends. Welcome to my humble abode!" 

"Oh, okay. Yeah, that's fine. It's nice to meet you." She quickly glanced around the room that they both stood in. "So... what is there to do around here, anyway? I don't really see much, honestly."

"Well, there's a bookshelf and a tablet. You probably have a phone though anyway, and there's a spot over there," she pointed at the aforementioned spot, "That you can charge them with, so I'm not sure how helpful all of that other stuff will be while you wait."

"How many people are we waiting for, anyway?" 

A pause. Then, "Y'know, I'm gonna have to get back to you on that. I actually sort of lost track of the exact number. Did you invite anyone to come along with you?"

Sabine stared at her in slight confusion and shook her head. "Of course not. Kanan invited Ezra and I. I didn't even know I was supposed to bring somebody. Nobody told me about that or I would have brought my other friend, Zeb. He might be at work though, come to think of it, so maybe that wouldn't have worked out quite as well as I'm thinking."

Ahsoka shrugged, not looking concerned in the slightest. "I was gonna say 'the more the merrier' if you did, but it's not like a required thing. Tons of other people didn't bring anybody with them. Just ask around. Besides, we probably don't need a huge crowd anyway."

Ezra, who hadn't bothered to join the conversation until just then, walked over with his hands full and a stack of books up to his chin. "I thought you already said that there was gonna be a lot of us, though?"

Ahsoka nodded. "Yeah, that's still happening, See, I was just saying that we're easily gonna have over ten people, so we don't necessarily need much more. I only have so much room here. Wait a minute, how did you hear me? You were on the other side of the room."

"Good hearing, I guess? Plus I just walked over here and only heard that one bit of what you were saying."

Sabine rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, you can hear just fine but you can't listen."

"Oh shut up. You're just bitter because I took your barbecue chips."

"They're my favorite kind and you know that."

"But you have more!" He motioned over at Ahsoka, who still had her arms full of chips. One of those bags was indeed barbecue flavored. 

"That's not-" Sabine paused as she looked closer. She then slowly took the bag. Then she took two different bags after that.

Ahsoka didn't say anything, she just watched as the stack of chips was slowly reduced.

"Anyway, now we've established that I'm right and Sabine is wrong-" Ezra began again, getting quickly interrupting by Sabine's protest. 

"Anyway," he said pointedly, deciding to ignore her, "What's your name?"

"Me?" Ahsoka asked. "I'm Ahsoka. This is where I live so make yourself comfortable, we might be here for a while."

The boy nodded and flopped onto the couch. "Can do!"

"Well, that's good to- Barriss! Finally! You were supposed to be here an hour ago, where were you?"

Barriss didn't seem to hear her friend, however. She was looking over her shoulder, glaring at someone who stood behind her. 

"You do not need to be here."

An adult's voice called out at the girl. "I don't know what you'll be doing and I don't want you to get hurt-"

"I am twenty-one years old. Twenty-one. I can handle myself and you know that. I've proved that on multiple occasions. Also, every single time I actually do get hurt, you are not here."

“Wha- I- That's not true! I'll admit that I wasn't always here when you need me to be, but I am now!"

Barriss crossed her arms. "I see that. You're here when I don't need you and you aren't here when I do. Is that how things work now?"

"No. Can't you just let me talk?"

"No! You've talked quite a lot at me today, if I remember correctly. Now, if you'll just let me-" 

"Everything okay over here?" 

Barriss looked to her right to see Ahsoka suddenly standing by her side.

"Thank you. Yes, everything is fine. Besides," the girl shot an irritated glance at the woman behind her, "She was just leaving." 

"Well. If you really don't want me here-"

"Let me spend time with my friends. You agreed in the car five minutes ago. It doesn't make any sense why you're fretting over me now. Just, please? We can talk later, even though I personally think that we've talked enough."

The woman looked between Ahsoka and Barriss, frowned, and turned to leave.

As soon as she was gone, the older of the two girls practically fell onto the couch, startling Ezra at the sudden movement. He looked up from his book and frowned at her, before scooting over and continuing his reading.

"What was that?" Ahsoka asked, glancing back at the door when Rex walked in. She waved at him quickly before focusing her attention back on her friend.

"Ugh, it was nothing important, really," Barriss told her with a frown.

"You sure about that? Because it kind of sounded important..."

"Parents are overbearing, that's all. I'm sure you understand." 

Ahsoka nudged Ezra's legs so she could sit down. He noticed this and sat up to make some more room.

"I don't really get it, but I'm sure that it's annoying." 

"You have Anakin and Shmi though!"

"And Kanan told me that all the guys coming in are your brothers. So you have them too," Ezra agreed.

"No, I know. Shmi isn't really that strict though. She has so many people to keep track of, myself included, but she also kinda isn't my mother, you know?" 

Barriss answered a quiet "yes," at the same time Ezra replied with a loud "no."

"Am I missing something?" The boy asked. Both girls nodded.

"See, Shmi isn't actually my mom," Ahsoka explained. "And my brothers aren't officially my brothers. With Shmi though, I mean, she tries to be like a mom. She really does. I know she actually is, because Anakin, duh. But I don't know, it doesn't really click with me and her as it does with her and Anakin. He's her real kid."

"You're her real kid too!" A sudden voice called out. Anakin, who had been standing in the doorway, rushed over and ended up falling down on the couch with one arm thrown over his little sister in the process. Ezra made a face as the couch moved yet again.

“Snips, we're all close here! All of us. You, me, Mom, Rex, Echo-" 

“Okay, Anakin."

"-Tup, Fives, Jesse, Kix, Dogma-"

"Alright, Anakin!"

"I'll keep on going," Anakin grinned. "Don't underestimate me. I'll do it. I'll name them all."

"Please don't."

"No promises. Come on, Snips, you have to know you're like a sister to me."

Ahsoka, who was about to open her mouth to argue, instantly stopped at Anakin's last words. 

"You've never said that before."

He blinked at her in silence for a few seconds.

"Which part?"

“That I'm like a little sister to you. You've never said that before."

"Wait, I haven't? Are you sure?"

Ahsoka nodded. "Positive. I swear I would have remembered that."

"Oh." Anakin frowned. "I guess I just kinda figured you already knew. I thought it was obvious."

"I mean, you never said it. You never pointed it out. ...You're like a brother to me, you know?"

He grinned. He was about to make a joke, then he remembered that the conversation was serious. Not the best timing for a joke.

"No, I guess I never did say it. Sorry about that. I really did think you knew that though. Some things just don't really need to be said, you know?"

Ahsoka nodded, then looked around the room to see who was there. "Yeah, I know... Oh! Well, looks like everyone's here. Is everybody ready to go?"

Several people nodded in her direction.

"Alright!"

“So, what's the plan?" Anakin asked her eagerly. His eagerness only grew when Ahsoka smirked and looked down at her phone, turning it around to show one of her contacts.

"Do you know what Obi-wan's up to tonight?"


	14. Don’t Stop Me Now.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka drags the gang into something potentially illegal and ultimately stupid, and Anakin sees something he wishes he hasn’t.

"Come on, this is gonna be so much fun!"

"For you, maybe. You won't get into any trouble. You never do," Barriss replied with a frown, sighing slightly as she held up her heavy skirt. She groaned as quietly as she could once she realized that no matter how high she tried to lift them with only one hand, it just wasn't enough. She then scowled at the ground as she kicked off her shoes. "Why do we have to be crawling around through bushes? Isn't there any better options here? Any at all?" She winced at her knee hit a particularly sharp edge. "I'd rather not go through this."

"I'm with Barriss here," Anakin agreed, frowning as his ankle hit the same jagged shrub that hers did. "This totally sucks. Remind me now, why did I ever decide to go along with this again?"

"We haven't gotten to the good part yet," Ahsoka told them as she trudged ahead. "And to answer your question- don't open your mouth I know it was rhetorical- you're going along with this because you're bored and you have no other friends that aren't in my group, that's why. And," she then pointed over at Barriss, "You don't have to complain! I'm sure it can't be that bad. Could you maybe just be dramatic? Honest question."

"Uh, might I remind you that you wouldn't have even met half of these rugrats if it wasn't for me?" Anakin said smugly. "Also, once again, I'm with Barriss here. Uh, you do know that Obi-Wan's house has a road next to it, right? We could have easily just driven there... or done literally anything else that doesn't involve us all walking through bushes. Seriously. Even I have like, three other plans that are at least ten times better.... and even I can admit that my plans aren't always the best in the world."

"Going the main way takes away all sense of adventure," Ahsoka told him a bit huffily.

"Yeah, maybe, but it also keeps thorns out of our clothes. I'm sure I'm not the only one here that would really appreciate that." Several annoyed grunts sounded in response to his statement.

"What thorns? I chose a safe path for us all to walk in!"

"Ahsoka, bushes naturally have thorns in them, no matter what path we take," Barriss informed her friend calmly. The slight roll of her eyes was somehow as sneaky as she thought it was, too. "Especially rose bushes." 

"Wait, hold on a minute, I'm stepping on flowers?"

The teenager stopped walking for a second and lifted up her shoe to check, but quickly lost her balance and fell into the aforementioned rose bush instead. She huffed as she heard laughter around her, then proceeded to huff more once she realized exactly why everyone was so annoyed with the bushes.

"Ow! Someone please give me a hand here; these things hurt!"

"Exactly Anakin and I's point," came the smug response as Barriss bent down to help her up. "Believe us now?" She smirked.

"Yeah yeah, I believe you. We're almost to Obi-wan's though, we'll just end up wasting time if we go back and walk alongside the road."

"Yes, but now you've felt my pain. And Anakin's. And everyone else's. Do you really want to keep walking through this?"

"Well, no, but I'll manage. Uh, we'll manage. Right? Yes?" Several unimpressed looks greeted her. 

"Plus, if we walk alongside the road, we'll get caught," Ezra pointed out smartly. The kid had been mostly silent up until that point; he was simply just along for the ride, not really caring much about what was actually going on. As long as he was with his friends, did it really matter?

"Yeah, what's the point of this exactly?" Sabine chimed in, bending down to pick a piece of a rose petal off of her shoe. She flicked it onto the ground and shrugged as Ezra frowned at her. She briefly caught the word 'rude' but she ultimately ignored it.

"Nobody knows what Obi-wan does when he's alone," Ahsoka told them solemnly, as if this held the upmost amount of importance. "So we're gonna figure it out. We'll all be the first to know. Won't that be fun?"

"Wait wait wait hold on," Kanan spoke up suddenly, shaking his head incredulously. "You interrupted Ezra, Sabine, and I- I'm thankful for that part, by the way- then you invited us over to hang out, and all we're gonna do is spy on some middle aged man? Not do some other normal thing that most people do when they hang out? Like, oh, I don't know, anything sane? Like pizza! Maybe even a movie? Maybe even something totally wild like going down to the river! Those are all perfectly acceptable while at the same time being perfectly legal things to do! Ahsoka, you're going to get us all in so much trouble! I love you, but you're an idiot. You know that, right?

"....Yes. You were perfectly content when I joked that we should go break stuff, but as soon as I come up with the plan, now you're complaining?"

"Spying on someone I barely even know was not how I thought I'd spend my day, is all, and I highly doubt that you just got invited there tonight. It's so early in the morning that even the nicest, sweetest, most easy going person in the world wouldn't let a huge group of kids come over! Especially not a group that apparently has intentions to spy on people!"

"Yes, but you're still here, which means you can't be too mad about it. We're almost there, so let's hurry up and go already!"

She ran off before Kanan could open his mouth to reply. 

*****

"It's a nice place." 

"I could have told you that much," Anakin replied from his position in a bush. He looked around and shrugged. "I don't know how I fit in here."

"Nobody does," Rex, who was in the bush next to his friend, agreed. "The only two I can see actually fitting in these things comfortably are Ezra and Ahsoka, and that's only because they're the smallest."

"That's true," Barriss whisper-shouted back to them. "At least this time Ahsoka found some bushes with less thorns in them." 

"It's a gift," Ahsoka smirked.

Barriss turned to face her, staring incredulously. "You have got to be kidding me. If you hat this so called 'gift' all this time, then why didn't you use it earlier?"

"My superpowers needed to recharge."

"Superpowers is a little generous. You said it was a gift. There's a major difference there, Ahsoka."

Ahsoka shrugged. "Yeah, well-"

"Guys, shut up!" Sabine whispered suddenly. The expression on her face was grumpy and nervous all at once; she looked like she was ready to elbow one (or both) of them in the face if it would just shut them up. "While you two were doing... whatever it is you two do, Anakin said he saw something."

"I did."

“What is it? What can you see?" 

A confused expression on his face as he squinted up at the nearest open window, Anakin frowned and ignored his little sister's question.

"Barriss, I don't think you're going to like this."


	15. Don’t.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barriss sees something that she would really prefer not to.

"EW. Ew ew ew ew this was such a bad idea! I knew I shouldn't have let you drag me into this... this mess! You're such a bad influence on me! Why are you like this?"

"Don't run away now! There could be more to find out!" Ahsoka smiled brightly in what could have been in attempt to cheer her friend up, but in reality, she was likely trying to convince the other girl to just buckle up and act like nothing was wrong so they could keep snooping.

Poor Barriss was not in agreement with the nineteen-year-old's silent, but nonetheless bad, idea. The only good that would come out of it would be... well, nothing. So it was probably a good idea that this plan was stopped incredibly early on by none other than the shocked twenty-one year old herself.

Barriss paused for a second, blinking, suddenly whipping around quickly to face Ahsoka, whisper shouting at the other girl as loudly as she could risk. (Which, unfortunately for her, was not very loudly, since she wished she could be yelling for real.) "More? You want me to see more?! I saw kissing! Like, actual kissing! Two lips! On other lips! And two of those belonged to Luminara of all people! I can't believe this! Are you out of your mind? Why would I need to see more? I know that my mom is... dating, but it's so odd to think about! So, no thank you, I think I've seen quite enough tonight, thank you very much!"

Ahsoka shrugged, looking like Barriss suddenly (somewhat) yelling at her was no big deal at all. She thought for a second or two before coming up with something that she hoped would calm the other girl down a bit. It would not likely be as successful as she thought it would be. "You two were arguing earlier, and she's been more aggressive lately, right?"

"Yes?" Barriss huffed slightly, "So?"

"Well, if Luminara stays here with Obi-Wan and they continue to think that they're all alone-"

"Stop stop stop stop-" Barriss covered her eyes, then scowled deeply and removed one hand from her eye to cover one of her ears.

"-Then maybe they'll talk it out and solve whatever her problem is," Ahsoka finished, smiling innocently at her best friend who looked about ready to throw her into a wall. If she did anything, though, she'd simply have to settle for some dirt or a bush. "What did you think I'd say?"

"Why are you like this. Seriously. Why are you like this? Really, I need to know. Who taught you to be this way? Is it too late to calm you down?"

The younger girl shrugged, still not seeming concerned in the slightest. "Blame it all on Anakin."

"I didn't do it," the aforementioned man whispered to them before pausing as he realized he didn't have the slightest clue about what Ahsoka was blaming on him. "...What are you pinning on me, exactly? I kind of need a heads up here."

"You practically raised Ahsoka." She pointed an accusatory finger at him. "This is all your fault."

"Hey, chill out over there. I didn't raise Ahsoka. Mom raised Ahsoka and Mom raised me. I met Snips here when we were kids, remember? Look at me now, then think of something twice as chaotic and about half as smart with about three times the reckless energy. Now, think about that for a second or two. Do you seriously think I could raise anybody?"

She shook her head. "Fair point. At least you can acknowledge all of that. Now can we please get out of here? I'd rather not see more kissing... or anything else. I don't even want to see those two up there even holding hands right now, I mean it."

"Yeah, well, you aren't gonna get your wish," Ahsoka informed her with a shrug. Her know-it-all tone didn't help a thing. "Holding hands is pretty much the most innocent thing they could possibly do... and on that note, since you don't even want to see that much, don't look at them." Everyone missed the way she mumbled out something that sounded like, "You giant baby."

The quick way Barriss' face went from calm, to disgusted, to worried in just a few seconds was so sudden that Sabine and Ezra bursted out laughing.

"Idiot!" someone from the back of the group hissed, yanking the duo back, right before jumping into a different bush and leaving them out in the open. "You're too loud, we're gonna get caught!"

"What makes you think so?" Sabine asked as casually as she could, attempting to not sound too concerned. It would have worked if she hadn't been looking around for any adults.

"Look, they jumped apart. They stopped kissing... And they're coming to the window. Frick, hide!"

"We're already hiding!"

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" Sure enough, that was Obi-Wan voice. Much to Barriss' utter disappointment, Luminara spoke up shortly after.

"Show yourselves! I have a gun in here and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Nearby, Anakin shook his head at the group, hoping to let them know that there was not actually a gun.. there was a sword. And Obi-Wan was trained in several forms of martial arts.

Anakin didn't say any of that, though. He simply said nothing at all.

After a few minutes of silence, Obi-Wan spoke up again. "I don't see anything. Are you sure you heard something?"

"I swear. I heard kids laughing." 

Sabine and Ezra shot nervous glances at each other.

"I don't know... I don't see anybody. Maybe it was the TV?" 

"You know fully well that neither one of us was paying any attention to the TV. Besides, didn't I turn it down?"

"Yeah," Obi-Wan nodded, voice trailing off as he squinted suspiciously at the bushes. "It was... Come to think of it, I thought I saw some broken sticks a few minutes ago."

"And I see some footprints over there. Oh, and some shoes, I think." Luminara pointed out. Then the woman seemed to freeze in place as she came to a sudden realization. "Wait. Are you kidding me?"

"What? What is it?"

The woman shook her head and huffed as she yanked on a pair of flip flops. She then picked up a flashlight and stomped out of the house, not stopping to see if Obi-Wan was following her or not.

"Could you explain what's going on? It's probably just some kids that got lost or something. Or it might be the neighbors. They have a few really loud kids. They also never bothered to give them a real curfew, so they're out here at all hours of the night- hey, stop. What's with all the hostility?"

Luminara finally stopped running. She looked around them and frowned at the seemingly innocent silent night. Then, as if remembering why she came outside in the first place, she walked over and picked up the pair of shoes that had been bothering her so much.

"Look familiar?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "Uh... No. Should they? It's just a pair of shoes." 

"Yes," she nodded. "But they belong to Barriss."


	16. Trouble.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids (plus, or including Anakin,) get caught.

"I think you have some explaining to do here."

 

"Uh...."

 

Barriss stood frozen like a deer in headlights. It took her more than a few seconds to even regain her voice in the sight of her scary mother. A few more seconds after that, even, she finally began looking around for help. The first place she looked was behind her to where one of her best friends was giving her an oh-so-encouraging thumbs up.

 

'Thanks for the support,' the older of the two mouthed. By the smile she received, she very highly doubt the other girl had realized that was meant to be sarcastic... oh well. She was clearly much too busy to explain.

 

"Well." Luminara stood in front of the group, arms crossed with a glare on her face. She shot a pointed glare at the adult directly in front of her as she spoke. "So. Would anyone care to explain what's going on here?"

 

Barriss, who could indeed speak but wisely decided against it for the time being, silently shook her head. On the complete other hand was Ahsoka, who, in the background, yelled out a loud "No!"

 

"Anakin," Obi-Wan began speaking suddenly as he walked forward a bit to stand next to his girlfriend. As he spoke up again, the other man's name came out as a sigh. "Why are you here? Are you in charge of this?"

 

"I'm not in charge, no, but you're not gonna like why we're all here," Anakin replied, wincing as he attempted to climb out of the bush. Tiny flowers and not so tiny thorns got stuck in his clothing as he finally got himself situated to his liking. "So why don't I just say what you want to hear so we can wrap this up and go home?" He winced again after he said that, although the reasoning for the reaction was different from the last time, of course.

 

"You don't even know what I want to hear! Right now, I don't even know what I want to hear."

 

"You don't know, maybe I'm a mind reader," Anakin shrugged. He then pointed a thumb over toward Kanan, who was trying his best not to pay attention. He looked up and responded with a loud sigh as several eyes shot over at him. "Maybe this guy taught me!"

 

"Actually-"

 

"Shhhh," was the response as the older man stuck out his hand. "Talk to the hand. I'm busy trying to make sure we don't get arrested."

 

"I think you're failing," Ezra spoke the obvious, whispering still, despite the fact that it wasn't necessary anymore and that they were already caught. Sabine nodded at him anyway.

 

"I just want to know why you're all here," Obi-Wan said calmly. Despite that fact, the group of kids just looked incredibly nervous.

 

"Ahsoka," the man said suddenly, eyes trailing over to the teenager. He had obviously caught on to her panicked expression. "Care to explain what's going on here?"

 

"Uh... No. Not really. Can I just say no? I feel like that's the best option here."

 

"No," he replied patiently. "I need an answer here. I need to know who's in charge of this, at the very least. I'm not mad that you're here since I've told you that you're always allowed to come over. However, most of the others aren't. And remember, I can press charges if I need to."

 

"Would he?" Rex mumbled quietly. He only got a few uncertain shrugs. Realizing that nobody knew the answer, he shrugged too and began listening to the current conversation again.

 

"That goes to everyone here, by the way! I'm sure your parents wouldn't appreciate you all getting arrested for trespassing, now, would they?"

 

Several grumbles sounded from the crowd, including one annoyed "I shouldn't have even showed up tonight. It's way past my curfiew anyway."

 

"Do you really want the truth?" Ahsoka asked hesitantly. "Because you're really not gonna like it."

 

Both adults nodded at her.

 

"Okay...." The girl looked back at Anakin for confirmation, who nodded.

 

"Mom will bail us out," he mouthed, despite the fact that he was also allowed to be there, like his sister was. Ahsoka simply nodded and turned to look over at the adults again.

 

"We... Kinda just wanted to see if you really just sit home and read all day when nobody's with you. We thought you were alone. I swear we didn't mean to interrupt... whatever it is that we interuptted. Before you get mad at everybody, this was my idea, I swear. They just kinda got roped into it?"

 

"Did they get roped into it, or did they just want to join you?"

 

"Well... uh-"

 

"We wanted to come with her," a voice from the back of the crowd chimed in. Rex climbed out of a bush and got up to stand beside his sister. "She didn't drag us into this. Or at least, not me. And likely not Anakin either."

 

Anakin looked slightly reluctant, but nodded and went to stand beside his siblings anyway. "He's right. This was our decision, too. Even though I'm beginning to see it was a bad one..."

 

Obi-Wan, instead of getting angry that people were admitting that they willingly came along, looked slightly proud. Luminara looked ready to slap him and everyone else there.

 

So despite knowing the answer to the question she had, she asked it anyway. She already sounded upset as she asked, "So, are we pressing charges?"

 

Obi-Wan didn't even turn to look at her as he shook his head. "It's "I" not we, just so you know. And to answer your question, no, I'm not pressing charges if everyone leaves right now and doesn't come back unless I allow it. And no more breaking the law, alright? I will get you all arrested if this happens again. I won't hesitate next time. Deal?"

 

"Got it!" Multiple voice yelled out, before the kids all began to scatter. The only ones left were Barriss, Ahsoka, Anakin, (even though Anakin wasn't technically a kid,) and Rex.

 

"I'm sorry!" Ahsoka yelled out before the other people could even get a word out. "It was a bad idea. It was a really bad idea. I'm never going to do it again. I'll call ahead when I-"

 

"Ahsoka," Obi-Wan interuptted gently. "Calm down. You're not in trouble. Neither are the rest of you."

 

"I wouldn't say that," Luminara grumbled. Everyone ignored her.

 

"Anyway," the man continued, "Shouldn't all of you be home? It's really late."

 

"Actually, it's early," Barriss corrected him. She frowned at the sight of her glaring mother. "But yes, I suppose you're right."

 

"Why are you all out this late? I mean, I know the reason why, but couldn't you all have snuck up on me in the daylight?"

 

"Yeah... uh, Mom hasn't wanted us around lately. Curfiew kinda flew out the window," Anakin explained.

 

Ahsoka nodded. "Yeah. For example, my curfiew is usually eleven o' clock. It's what, four in the morning right now?"

 

"Approximately, yeah. See, that proves my point."

 

Obi-Wan frowned. "Is everything alright at home, is something going on?"

 

"Somewhat. No, not really. Mom hasn't been feeling all that great, and she wants to spend time with her husband," Anakin explained.

 

"What? Husband? You never told me they got married."

 

"It was a while ago," the younger man shrugged. "I'm surprised even Ahsoka and I were invited to the wedding. It was super small, just Mom's parents and Cliegg's. I couldn't invite you, sorry."

 

"It's quite alright," Obi-Wan said, smiling. Then, suddenly, he made a face. He sighed and said, "I know you're pretty much incapable of explaining your emotions to me, Anakin, but just know that I'm here if you need me." He looked over at Ahsoka and smiled ever so slightly. "That goes for you too, okay?"

 

When he didn't receive a response for several seconds, he frowned and looked over at the girl closely, only to find that she was staring at her phone and hadn't been listening at all.

 

"Yeah, uh, I might need to take you up on that."


	17. Come Through.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ahsoka gets ready to help Kaeden out. She just needs some permission first...

"This is a bad idea."

 

Anakin looked out the window, nodding. "Yeah," he said as he watched the trees go by. "It might be."

 

"Aren't you supposed to, oh, I don't know, back out if you have a feeling that this is going to blow up in our faces? I feel like that would be the best option here... but from your reaction," he pointed at the younger man, "I'm almost positive that this is a bad idea."

 

"That's pretty much your trademark response when it comes to me," came the calm and unconcerned response. He didn't even have to look back at his friend.

 

"That's because you're full of bad ideas, Anakin," Obi-Wan sighed. "I try to impart wisdom on you but sometimes I think it just makes things worse. I just hope you don't go rob a bank or hurt a little old lady... or something like that. Please don't grow up to be a horrible menace. I think we'd all hate that, yourself included."

 

"He hears what you say then does the opposite of it," Ahsoka informed cheerfully as she switched gears. "I'm just gonna ignore all the other stuff you said, though, since it doesn't pertain to me. Oh, wait a second, I just remembered something. This idea that you're over there bashing Anakin over is mine, do you remember that?"

 

Obi-Wan made a face as he decided to join Anakin in looking out the window. Ahsoka simply smiled.

 

"Anyway, out of curiosity, why do you have a big pickup truck instead of a car? Would the smaller vehicle be easier to work with?"

 

"I have a car too, you know," Obi-Wan told her, but didn't explain why they were in the old, bulky thing.

 

"That's great to know but I'm still confused. Like, for example, what if I didn't know how to drive a stick shift? What would we have done then?"

 

"Then we would have taken the car, but you need more experience with the stick shift anyway."

 

"You didn't even know I could drive a truck until today, don't try to be all wise with me. I have a shield. Hey, Anakin!"

 

"...A shield? A shield against what, common sense?"

 

"Yes!" she yelled out triumphantly. She looked proud until she heard Anakin start laughing.

 

"Nah Snips, I'm pretty sure you've got that one handled all on your own. Anyway, why are you dragging us along on some mission at five in the morning? Don't you have school or something?"

 

Ahsoka's face was amused as she briefly glanced back at him. "Uh, no? It's Saturday and I graduated already, remember?"

 

"I...did not."

 

"Well, you do now. Also, to answer your question... some of my friends need my help. Uh, one got kicked out of her house. Can she stay with us until she gets settled? It won't be long, I swear."

 

"I would have appreciated some heads up- Wait, why did she get kicked out? Which friend is this, exactly?" Anakin asked, but his confusion seemed to settle down as soon as he asked his questions.

 

Ahsoka didn't look back at him this time around, keeping her eyes on the road as she answered.

 

"Kaeden."

 

"Ah. That explains it. When did she get kicked out?"

 

"Around an hour ago, apparently," the girl answered, nodding toward her phone. "Everyone was trying to get my attention but I was with you guys trying not to get arrested- sorry again, Obi-Wan- but I finally got back online and she needs my help. Could you check the first chat for me? The app is already open, I just need to know what it says."

 

"Which one of us?"

 

"Doesn't matter, I trust you both."

 

With a nod, Anakin opened the phone and did as she said.

 

Kae: AHSOKA!!!! Please get online.

 

LuckyLux: Ahsoka you were saying that Shmi's been super laidback lately, right?

 

SnipnDye: Yes?

 

LuckyLux: Laidback enough to take in an extra teenager for a little bit?

 

SnipnDye: No idea. I'll check with her and Anakin in a little bit. Even if you can't stay with us, we'll figure something out. I promise.

 

LuckyLux: Wait a minute, I'll go ask my mom if you can stay with us, Kaeden! I think she's gonna say yes <3

 

Kae: <3 <3 !!!! You're the best, Lux.

 

"Did Kaeden say anything?"

 

"Yeah," Anakin replied, scrolling down. "Lux was saying that she might be able to stay with him. She sent a bunch of hearts and said that he's the best."

 

Ahsoka nodded. "Can you text mom and ask if she can stay with us?"

 

"But Lux said-"

 

"I don't care what Lux said, his mom is never around and too busy to take care of him, let alone anyone else. It just wouldn't be fair to anyone involved."

 

"I understand what you're saying, but Mom hasn't really been watching over us very much right now either, you know?"

 

"Yeah, but she's still around. And even when she's not, Obi-Wan makes sure to let us know when we're doing something we should or shouldn't do, right?" As her brother reluctantly nodded, she asked, "Please text her?"

 

"You underestimate him," Obi-Wan suddenly said, smiling. "He texted her the second you told us what's going on."

 

"Did she answer?"

 

Anakin shrugged, put down Ahsoka's phone, and moved to pick up his own. Sure enough, one of the notifications showed that he got a response.

 

"She can stay," he announced. "Want me to text Kaeden and let her know?"

 

"Of course, thank you! Text the same chat, please?"

 

"Can do! What do I say?"

 

The younger of the two hesitated before answering. "Just... Just say 'you don't have to do that Lux, I just checked with Shmi. Kaeden can stay with me.' Maybe add a heart at the end, too?"

 

Anakin nodded, smirking slightly. It looked like it was physically hurting him to not make a comment. Obi-Wan, noticing this, started laughing at him with no remorse.

 

The younger man ignored this and picked up Ahsoka's phone again, tapping on the aforementioned chat. It brightly showed the most recent messages.

 

LuckyLux: Wait a minute, I'll go ask my mom if you can stay with us, Kaeden! I think she's gonna say yes <3

 

Kae: <3 <3 !!!! You're the best, Lux.

 

He then tapped out his announcement, or what was technically Ahsoka's, and watched as he got mulitple responses only seconds later.

 

SnipnDye: You don't have to do that Lux, I just talked with Shmi. Kaeden, you can stay with me <3

 

LuckyLux: Well, alright then. You both better come over and visit soon, though!

 

Kae: Ahh! I could just kiss you right now!

 

LuckyLux: ....Wait. Which one of us?

 

Anakin simply turned off the phone. "Well, that's taken care of! I'm guessing we're headed to pick her up now?"

 

Ahsoka nodded, smiling. "Yep! It's going to be fun though, I promise. It's gonna be like a prolonged sleepover!"

 

"Yep, I bet. How far away are we?"

 

"Actually, we're here."

 

The truck stopped moving right as she said it. She took the keys and tossed them over to Obi-Wan, who easily caught them.

 

The trio then got out of the truck and headed off toward the mostly empty park that was spread out right in front of them. The sun was not yet up, leaving it mostly dark outside. The only light out was the few lone street lights that shined on the park slightly, leaving it bright enough to walk.

 

"Hey, there she is!" Ahsoka pointed out, squinting at a teenage girl on the opposite side of the park. "Let's go get her. You guys ready?"

 

"Why do I feel like that's more of a warning than it is a question?" came Anakin's oh so cheerful reply.

 

Obi-Wan simply shrugged as he watched one of his friends run away. "Oh well. I'm sure we'll figure it out soon enough. We might as well follow her."

 

"Here we go..."


	18. Lose It.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaeden and Ahsoka talk.

"She's driving me absolutely insane."

 

Ahsoka, who Kaeden hadn't even known was in the neighborhood, suddenly entered the house the duo lived in with a bang. The brunette could vaguely hear some drawers opening and closing, a quiet 'thump' that indicated that something or other had just hit the ground, a loud and violent screech from none other than the resident dojo member, and a heavy sounding sigh as silence suddenly (and confusingly,) reigned.

 

It didn't last long.

 

Something once again went 'thump' as a loud curse ran throughout the kitchen. After the loud curse came a loud, "Ow!"

 

After all of that... whatever that was, Kaeden was quite frankly expecting an emergency or something of the sort. So, when Ahsoka gave a quick and quiet knock on Kaeden's bedroom door, (which was really just more of a warning, because she stopped for maybe two seconds before deciding that she didn't need permission to enter,) the (slightly) older of the two was already armed. Maybe the frying pan she held made it look like she came out of a cartoon, and was therefore no longer threatening, but at least she tried.

 

Once convinced there would be no furious, fiery, danger in the form of one Ahsoka Tano, she began loosening up again.

 

Ten minutes later, the duo was just chatting away like nothing happened.

 

"Who?" Kaeden looked up from her phone, eyes attempting to follow Ahsoka's fast pacing. The girl with the white and blue braids raced around her bedroom, hair swinging the wrong way and hitting her in the face every time she made a sharp turn. Kaeden itched to remind her to use the multiple rainbow colored hair ties on her wrist, but that wouldn't work all that well at all. "And why? Oh, and am I involved? I need to know."

 

"Shmi and Luminara! They're driving me absolutely mad!"

 

You mean madder than you already are? A voice in the back of Kaeden's mind told her, but she was smart enough to not even think of saying anything out loud.

 

"Okay, but why? Shmi seems really nice. I know I've only been here for two weeks while you've been here for... years, I'm sure, but she's always been polite. She does seem a bit distant, though, if that's what you're getting at? Correct me if I'm wrong, though."

 

"You're right though- and that's the problem!" Ahsoka fell onto her bed with a dramatic sigh. She threw her arms in the air and groaned. "I just can't even believe her. Like, yeah, she's married now, good for her, she found a great guy- but she has a ton of children that she doesn't even take care of anymore. And when I say a ton, I mean a ton, but she just lets us all do whatever we want. It can be great at times, like a few weeks ago at Obi-Wan's house, don't get me wrong, but I just miss Shmi actually behaving like a mom."

 

"Let me get this straight," Kaeden looked over at her furious friend, "You're mad at your mom for not being a mom? I think?"

 

"Yes! So something I said made sense, then?"

 

"Yeah." Kaeden nodded, setting her phone down on the table beside her. She then rolled over so she could face her friend a bit more directly. She almost got (accidentally) slapped in the process of it, though. "You're saying that you feel like Shmi doesn't even care about you or your siblings anymore. You hate that she's been so distant lately and that she might have been better when you were younger, I believe. You also think it's because of her recent marriage. Did I get that right?" At the stunned expression on Ahsoka's face, she let out a self satisfied hum. "Yeah, I think I'm right."

 

"Exactly. You get it, you understand me." Ahsoka then jumped off the bed, arms and legs flailing. It took a great deal of focus and coordination for poor Kaeden to get out of the way and avoid getting hit this time around. Once up and moving, Ahsoka grabbed her backpack out of the box it was sitting in. After she had that, she grabbed some paper and scribbled out a quick note. "I'm gonna go hang out with Ezra and Sabine. I think Barriss and Lux are gonna be there too, but I'm not sure. Do you want to come with me? I'm sure it would be much better than sitting home by yourself."

 

"I don't know. It sounds like fun, but I don't want to intrude-"

 

"You won't be intruding." The girl inched closer, throwing one blue and white braid out of her face as she did so. She placed a hand on Kaeden's shoulder, smiling softly. "I really want you to be there. It won't be as fun without you! Plus, you're actually mature. Our friend group could really use some of that."

 

"Our?" The brunette stepped closer. "I'm guessing that includes me, then? That definitely sounds like what you're saying, and I'm here for that."

 

"You're absolutely right, once again! That's how many times within the last two weeks? Oh, and before I forget to tell you, I want to include Miara too, of course. The only huge difference with the two of you is that she's sixteen. She's at the perfect age to go insane with her friends, hence why we need you to bring the maturity levels up a bit. Maybe she can even get you to loosen up a bit though, who knows? What we do know, however, is that Anakin and I can't do any of that."

 

"Oh. Right. Yeah, Miara too, of course!" Kaeden stepped backwards ever so slightly. Judging by the frown on her friend's face, the other girl noticed it. "Uh, she's not insane, actually. I know sometimes she might act like it-"

 

"Kaeden, it was a joke. I'm joking. I don't know how or why, but your sister gets along really well with Ezra and Sabine, and it's great! Maybe it's because they're all close in age? I imagine it would be easier for them to connect with her than with you or me, for example."

 

"Right. I mean, we're ninteen. I'm almost twenty- I think my birthday is before yours- and Ezra's only thirteen... so yeah, it makes sense."

 

"Are you okay?"

 

"What?" Kaeden blinked over at Ahsoka, noticing that the girl had taken several steps backwards. "Of course I am. Are you?"

 

"Yeah, I'm fine. You're rambling, though. If you really don't want to hang out with my friends, it's fine. You can just say so, you know."

 

Ahsoka slung her backpack over her shoulder and headed out the door, but was interrupted by a loud-

 

"No! That's not it at all!"

 

She skidded to a halt.

 

"What?"

 

"I really do want to come along, it's just that I don't really know anybody and I'm just so used to you, Lux, and Miara, and now that I live here I'm not even with Ki all of the time. I'm afraid I'm going to say something wrong or do something wrong, or accidentally offend somebody, which is the very last thing that I want-"

 

"Kaeden! You're doing it again. Please stop rambling. Calm down. Let's just go, okay? I promise you, it'll be great. If it's not, you can just go home, but I don't think you'll want to. You'll have lots of fun, I'm sure. Just trust me."

 

"Okay," Kaeden nodded, smiling slightly. "I trust you."


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very important meeting goes very, very wrong.

"Nobody is here."

 

Kaeden glanced around the practically deserted park in hopes that she would find the people that her and her housemate (roommate? One of the two,) were looking for, but no such luck. If that place was bigger and not a park, it definitely would have been classified as a ghost town.

 

"Yeah," Ahsoka nodded, eyes scanning the near empty space around her, "I've noticed. That's odd. Another thing that's odd is the fact that there's absolutely nobody here. By now this place is packed, if there's an event. And if there's not, it's usually not completely abandoned at the very least."

 

"Do you know why it's so empty? I mean, besides all of what you just said. I thought your friends were supposed to meet us here by now? Hey, do you think that maybe plans got cancelled?"

 

"Yeah, they were supposed to be here... But yeah, maybe there was a huge misunderstanding or something. Or maybe you're right and plans really did change. Either way, we'll know. I'll text the group chat right now and see what's going on."

 

True to her word, she sat down on top of a nearby picnic bench. Once she was no longer standing, she pulled out her phone and started typing.

 

SnipnDye: Where are you? Kae and I are waiting. This place is freaky.

 

JediSupreme: I'm on my way! I should be there in ten minutes at the very most, but I doubt that it'll take me that long.

 

Kae: You already know where I am. Just look up.

 

Kaeden looked up from her phone momentarily with a wave to Ahsoka, who smiled and rolled her eyes. She even went so far as to give a small wave in return. She then returned her focus to texting Barriss.

 

JediSupreme: Also, what on Earth is my username? I know I didn't change it recently. Who did it?

 

LuckyLux: Guilty as charged. Also, I don't know if I'll be there today.

 

Ahsoka huffed. "I'm going to call him." She pressed on his contact and nodded in approval as her phone began to ring.

 

"Hey," her friend answered.

 

"Hey! Why aren't you coming? You never skip out unless you have to. I know for a fact that you don't have other plans today, you're the one that told me."

 

"Yeah, uh, I kinda got caught up in something. A meeting with my mother," he explained. "She showed up and dragged me along for some senatorial business. I'm supposed to take after her once I get old enough, I guess. Politics are interesting and all, but I'd much rather be with you."

 

"I'd much rather be with you too, which is why I'm calling you right now! Is there any way you can get out of it? Everyone's coming! Literally everybody."

 

"I thought everyone was grounded from your little Obi-Wan Kenobi stakeout?"

 

"Nope!" Ahsoka happily shook her head. "I mean, yeah, some of them were, but everything's all good now."

 

"Not going to lie, I'm still stunned that nobody got arrested."

 

"Me too," Kaeden chimed in quietly. "I mean, it's definitely a good thing, but still. Anyway... Lux, can you hear me?" The boy in question nodded and went on to explain that they were on video chat and that the speaker was on. At the confirmation, she continued. "Okay. Could you please try to get here? I don't know much of anyone who's coming today. I'm truly doomed here. So pretty please with a cherry on top at least try?"

 

"I can't, I told you that already. I really wish I could, but there's no way that I could just slip in and out without getting caught."

 

"Just ditch the meeting!" someone yelled. Across the field, a person was waving at the other two girls. She raced toward them, huffing and puffing. She skidded to a stop and nearly fell over.

 

"Hi, did you hear me?" Barriss asked, inching closer to the phone that Ahsoka held. "Because my idea has some merit. Everyone would be happier for it!"

 

"Wait, hold on. Are you of all people suggesting that I ditch a very important meeting that involves really important people?"

 

The teenager seemed to pause at that. "Um. No?"

 

That didn't seem to work, judging by the way the other three people yelled out a loud, "Yes you did!"

 

"Okay, I did. So what? It's not the worst idea in the world, is it?"

 

Lux shook his head, grinning. "I'm just so happy, we finally broke you!"

 

Barriss paused once again, blinking slowly at her friend, confusion practically written all over her face. "I'm sorry?"

 

"We finally broke you," he repeated. "You've been a goody two shoes since the very moment we all met you. And none of us met you at the same time, if you remember that."

 

"Yes, I do," she nodded. "I don't know why you're so happy about 'breaking me' though."

 

"You're officially one of us!" Ahsoka yelled out gleefully, moving forward to give her confused friend a hug. "You always were, but you used to be kinda distant. Now you get into trouble with us and you even go as far as to suggest other people break the rules, too! We're all just so proud of you!"

 

"One of us, one of us," Kaeden chanted quietly. Nearby and quickly approaching, Kanan did it too.

 

"Why are you chanting?" Ezra, who was standing right beside Kanan, asked. Sabine and Rex shrugged while Lux quickly explained. Right after that, he was chanting too.

 

Five minutes later, the whole group, (excluding Barriss, of course,) got into it. Lux was leading out, loudest of them all, until suddenly he stopped talking entirely. His gaze turned away from his phone camera as he looked at something behind him. A loud thump sounded somewhere from Lux's side of the call. The group could clearly hear the previously calm politicians begin shouting. The only issue with that is that they weren't shouting at each other- they were shouting in panic.

 

"Senator!"

 

"Mrs. Bonteri!"

 

"The child! The- the mini senator! Somebody needs to watch over him!"

 

"Someone call an ambulance!"

 

"The child is fine, ignore him!"

 

"The child is the only one doing anything!"

 

"Hey, uh," Lux finally spoke up, looking back at his phone momentarily. "I think I gotta go."

 

"What's happening?" Ezra asked loudly. Sabine elbowed him in the side.

 

"Ezra. Not our issue."

 

"But I want to help!"

 

"Not. Our. Issue."

 

He reluctantly nodded.

 

"Look," Lux continued, "Kaeden, Ahsoka, Barriss, I'll keep you all updated. Have fun with the rest of your friends, okay? I'll call you as soon as I know what's going on. Talk to you later, bye."

 

The words call ended then flashed on the screen. Ahsoka pocketed her phone and turned to look at the now full section of the park.

 

"Okay gang, you heard the man. Let's go have some fun!"

 

They all raced off, talking to one another as they did. Ahsoka looked behind her to see that Barriss was jogging to catch up.

 

"Hey. Aren't you worried?"

 

"I am. Lux was there with his mom the whole time, and he has no idea what's going on. All I know is that one of the politicians called for an ambulance."

 

She nodded. "Yeah. I hope Mina's okay."

 

"Oh, she probably is. She could have just gotten a cold or something, maybe the flu. You never know."

 

"Then why would they call an ambulance?" a skeptical Barriss asked, crossing her arms. "It doesn't make any sense."

 

"You know how people like to react. They make things seem bigger than they really are. I'm sure things are totally fine-"

 

He did the mash! He did the monster mash, it was a graveyard smash! He did the mash!"

 

"That's Lux," Ahsoka sat down on a nearby bench and quickly digged out her phone. "That was really fast."

 

"Why's your ringtone for Lux based off of a monster song?" Barriss asked, head tilted ever so slightly.

 

"Because," came the vague answer. She then pressed a button to turn the speaker on as she answered the phone. "Hello?"

 

"Ahsoka," Lux said quickly. "And Barriss. I need you both."

 

"Where are you?"

 

"I left the meeting. I'm at the hospital. The one on Main street."

 

"That doesn't bode well... Mina?"

 

"I don't know."

 

"What? You're her son, aren't they legally required to let you in?"

 

"Yes. They let me in for a little while, but they had to do surgery. She's still in there. I'm sitting in the waiting room now."

 

Ahsoka gripped the phone tighter as she turned the volume up. "Surgery? Did I hear you correctly?"

 

"Is she okay?" Barriss asked quietly, one hand on the phone as well.

 

"I don't know," Lux repeated. "They won't let me see her until surgery's done."

 

"Okay. What have the doctors been telling you? Did she get sick, was there an attack, what's going on? Please tell us... If you want to tell us, of course."

 

"Well," the man sighed. His hand combed through his hair calmly. His face and his actions were proving to completely contradict each other.

 

His face was the picture of anxiety and panic, but the way he moved and spoke was perfectly calm and in control.

 

Maybe being the son of a senator taught him something. It very likely did.

 

"Well?"

 

"Barriss shut up," Ahsoka suddenly hissed. "He'll tell us when he's ready."

 

"You're curious too and you know it. Anyway, let's not argue right now, okay? We can talk later."

 

"Look," Lux began talking again, "The doctors won't know a lot until surgery is done... But I know my mom. She's been around a bit more within the last week, which is so amazing. You have no idea how happy I am about it. My mom is clearly good at lying, since she's a senator and all, but she doesn't lie to me. I would know if she did, she's the one that taught me how to easily spot lies and half truths."

 

"Okay..." Ahsoka replied nervously, trying her best to be patient and understanding. She wasn't doing very well.

 

"What's the point?" Barriss asked bluntly. "What's the point of the sentence, I mean."

 

"Everyone's been telling me that my mom had a cold or she got sick. Or maybe she had the flu. The flu doesn't give you bruises, I'm sure! I've had the flu and it's never done any of this!"

 

"What do you think happened then? It's definitely sounding like she was all fine and dandy before today, right?"

 

"Yes!" Lux nodded rapidly. "You understand. And people, like the other politicians, really don't like her all that much right now. Even the ones she sides with! It really doesn't bode well and I seriously don't want to accept it but..."

 

"But?"

 

He took a deep, shaky breath.

 

"I think there was an attempt on her life."


	20. Fallin’

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group meets up at the hospital. Lux gets some horrible news.

"I'm going to the hospital, talk to you later!"

 

Ahsoka was looking through bags and purses on the table in an attempt to find some car keys, but much to her disappointment, she wasn't having very much luck at all. It didn't seem to occur to her that she might have better luck at it if she just took a deep breath and relaxed for a few seconds. She was a woman on a mission. The girl had to run home, (literally) to find the aforementioned keys. The hospital was far enough away that she couldn't just walk there. She was so distracted with that and keeping Lux on the phone, (which was not as easy as it might sound, especially when he was more freaked out than she was, and that was saying something,) that she didn't even hear her brother come in. He wasn't being subtle or quiet, either.

 

"What's going on?" Anakin's voice called out from near the back door. He had clearly just gotten home, judging by the fact that he was dragging his feet, his hair was dripping with sweat and clearly a mess, he had a sword in one hand, (in it's case, which was helpful), and, finally, he was dangling keys off of the tips of his fingers.

 

Wait.

 

Keys.

 

"Anakin!" Ahsoka yelled loudly from the kitchen. She didn't realize just how loud she was being in her panicked state, and as a result of that she totally startled the poor guy. Shocked by the sudden shout, he nearly dropped his sword. Nearly, though. He fumbled around just gracefully enough to catch the weapon and gently place it on top of the nearby washing machine. Since it was in its rightful case, it likely wouldn't have done too much damage, but it's better save than sorry, right? "Anakin- oh shoot, I'm so sorry! Did I scare you? I wasn't trying to, I swear."

 

"Nah," Anakin told her, shaking his head even though she might not have been able to see him. "Just surprised me was all. I'm good though."

 

"Good. Then I really need you to take Kaeden and I to the hospital!"

 

In hindsight, saying that and only that just a few seconds after shrieking out Anakin's name and making him drop a deadly weapon, talking about going to the hospital and providing exactly no further explanation was not the best idea. The twenty something year old leapt over furniture, kicked dirty clothes out of his way, grabbed his cell phone to call an ambulance, and raced his way into the kitchen where his little sister was. If someone had been timing him, they would have discovered that it only took him a few seconds to get all the way there.

 

"Why? What's wrong? Which one of you are hurt?"

 

"Neither of us!" Kaeden quickly corrected before Ahsoka could so much as open her mouth to speak. "It's not us. We're both fine. Scared, but fine... Lux asked us to go to the hospital where he's at."

 

Anakin visibly relaxed a bit, but frowned once the teenager finished her sentence. "Oh, well, that's not good. I heard you," he pointed over at Ahsoka, "Throwing things around. Was that because you're anxious, or was that because you're looking for something?" He then pointed over to the bags and purses that were no longer on the counter. All but one of them had ended up on the floor.

 

"Looking for something," the girl explained. "I need some car keys and I need to borrow a car."

 

"What about Mom's- oh right, she isn't home." His casual and calm tone of voice quickly turned to something concerned. "Look," he said with a sigh, "I understand that you need to get there as soon as humanly possible, but I can't give you my keys." The girl's faces both fell, but he wasn't finished. "Hold on, don't get upset at me yet, let me continue. I was saying that you can't have my keys because I don't know how well you can drive right now, which is perfectly understandable. So, if I can drive, all three of us will go. One of you can call Mom on the way and explain, right?"

 

He let out a pleased hum when the duo went from crushed to heavily relieved within seconds.

 

"Yes!" Kaeden yelled, nodding as she held up her phone. "Yes. I can do it right now if I need to."

 

"You're the best! I love you so so so much." Ahsoka reached forward and wrapped her arms tightly around Anakin. When she let go, she grabbed her purse off of the floor and walked out the back door. The other two followed her.

 

******

 

"Where is he? Where's Lux?"

 

As soon as they entered the hospital, Ahsoka was practically on a manhunt for one of her best friends.

 

"The doctors finally let him in," Barriss, who was standing by a vending machine, answered with a nervous smile. "They finally let him inside to see her."

 

The teenager let out a deep breath that she had been holding in. "Oh freaking finally." She then lowered herself into a small white chair next to Rex, who had apparently beaten her there.

 

"Hey," Rex mumbled to his sister. "How was your day aside from all of this?"

 

"This was it. This was all that happened today. We tried to get the whole group to hang out legally but," she motioned around them, "You see how that ended."

 

"Okay," he nodded. "What about earlier today? This morning, maybe?"

 

Ahsoka shrugged. "I didn't really do much. Just kinda lounged around with Kaeden until we headed off to the park today. What about you?"

 

"Actually, I have some good news."

 

The girl sat up a bit straighter as she looked over at her brother. "Yeah?"

 

He nodded. "Yeah... I started some college classes today. Guess that's happening now."

 

Ahsoka smiled over at him, nudging his shoulder. "I'm really proud of you. It sucks that you probably missed class today. If that could have been avoided, I would have helped avoid that."

 

"No, it's okay. Really," he told her. "I did miss a class, but it was only one. It's the first day, all they were gonna do is give me the syllabus."

 

"Okay, but isn't that like... important?"

 

"Not as important as this."

 

"Yeah," Ahsoka agreed, "Obviously. I'm just trying to talk so I don't focus on everything too much and lose my mind or something." She then took a deep breath and forced herself to sound fine as her voice took on a conversational tone, "So, will you be able to make up for not being able to get there?"

 

"All they were gonna do is give me the syllabus," Rex repeated casually, not questioning why Ahsoka suddenly sounded completely unconcerned as if everyone ending up in the hospital together was a totally normal Tuesday.

 

Maybe for them it was, who knows?

 

"Hey," a quiet voice chimed in as Barriss walked over to the siblings. She took a seat and turned to glance over at the two. "I come bearing Doritos."

 

"That sentence was really weird coming from you," the youngest of the three mumbled. Rex was probably glad that nobody commented on that anyway.

 

"How's everyone over here holding up?" the oldest of them asked, holding out a small bag of Doritos that she had just bought from the vending machine.

 

"Not good. Last time we were all here was-" Ahsoka began before getting caught off by the older girl.

 

"-Qui-Gon. Yeah, I know. Honestly, I'm pretty sure that hospitals are a curse now a days."

 

"I don't think so, Barriss. Hospitals suck to have to be at, but the people are here to help us! All the doctors, the nurses-"

 

"Ahsoka!" Kanan yelled out, which resulted in the girl getting interuptted once again. The man waved her over quickly, motioning over at a, well, you might have guessed it, nurse. Ahsoka, Barriss, and Rex glanced at each other and ran off to join the rest of the group.

 

"What's going on here?" Ezra asked quietly. "Is there any news?"

 

The doctor looked over at the short, blue haired boy, his colorful sister, the brunette hunched in on himself, the faux confident blue and white haired teenager, the dead quiet nineteen year old girl with a big hood over her face, the tall man with a buzz cut... and many more.

 

He shook his head and sighed. The doctor seemed to decide that with this big of a group, he should just focus on his main target: Lux.

 

So he turned to face him, before he could even speak, the young man's face crumbled.

 

When the doctor spoke, Lux's world came crashing down.

 

"I'm so sorry."


	21. Truth Hurts.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lux isn’t doing so well, and Barriss is having none of it.

Lux Bonteri was not doing well.

 

That could easily be proved by the way he barely left the house unless needed, (or unless people actually dragged him out,) the way his house, (he lived alone) suddenly became hyper-organized, and by the haphazard way that he kept in touch with his friends. (If he managed to at all.)

 

That doesn't mean that people were pleased with being ignored, though. They understood that he needed his space, but it's definitely possible to have too much. Barriss Offee, as per usual, was the one to push him into doing something about it.

 

"No, I get that. Yes, thank you." Lux's voice was bored and tired as he talked into his cell phone. "I'm looking forward to seeing- ...oh. I'm so sorry, but I'm going to have to call you back." He ended the call and set the phone down on the couch behind him. Whipping around to see who was at his house, he viciously shot daggers at the intruder, rushing to grab a nearby metal bat as he did so.

 

He held the bat out, letting it's dangerous spikes be well seen. "Show yourself!"

 

"It's me!" a low, accented voice yelled out, panic coating their voice as they spoke. Lux only held the weapon tighter in his grip, refusing to relax or back down... that is, until Barriss stepped forward, hands in the air.

 

"Surrender! I surrender! I'm not even here to fight you! Calm down, Lux!"

 

"...Barriss?" At the sight of his friend standing in the living room with a stick- or maybe a sword- held out defensively in front of her, Lux finally eased up. He threw the bat next to his phone and was pleased to see the black-haired girl do the same.

 

"Barriss," the man repeated, sounding winded, "What are you doing here?"

 

"You've been here for two weeks and nobody's seen you," Barriss informed him bluntly, as if he didn't know that fact already. He nodded along, not denying that.

 

"Yeah, I'm aware. But why are you here, at my house, at ten o'clock at night? Don't you have curfew?"

 

"I do," she said primly, "But all I had to do was say I was coming here. Luminara agreed to let me come out here for an hour. She also agreed that you could stay the night with us."

 

"What? When was that set up? More importantly, when did I agree to that? I certainly don't remember saying yes!"

 

"You didn't. I did."

 

"Wha- just because you want me to come doesn't mean that I'm going to! What if I just want to stay home, huh? What then?"

 

The teenager looked like she was trying very hard not to roll her eyes. Her patience seemed to be leaving her at a fast rate. "Look. You've been here, alone, for two weeks. You hardly talk to anyone and if you do, it's maybe three sentences before going back into self-isolation all over again."

 

"I'm not-"

 

"Yes you are! We all miss you, Lux. Please-" Barriss paused as one of their phones started buzzing. She eventually shrugged and ignored it, smiling as it died down. "Please come with me," she finished up nicely. "At least for the night. Or at least try to be better about answering your phone? We're all-"

 

For the second time, the girl was interuptted. She huffed loudly, patience growing thinner by the minute. She huffed once more when her bangs fell in her face. She swiped them away as she turned her back to the cell phone. "We're worried about you. Look, you don't even have to spend the entire night with me if you aren't up to it. Would I love it if you do? Yes. Would it calm everyone down for a little bit? Also yes. But will I force you to do-" When Lux's phone screamed for attention again, poor Barriss looked only mere seconds away from snapping.

 

"I freaking swear I'm going to break your phone in half if it doesn't shut up right now! I'm not-" When the phone rang a fourth time, her eyes rapidly filled with rage. For a few slow seconds, Lux and Barriss stared each other down. For a small amount of time, neither teenager moved. All of their eyes flickered away from each other and over at the phone, but their focus on each other never broke.

 

"I'm going to break you in half if you break my phone, I need that for business!"

 

Eyes finally looking back at each other, they seemed to communicate with one another in silence for a few seconds. It probably would have lasted longer....but when a loud ringing sounded throughout the room for the fifth time, Barriss simply gave up and lunged for the phone.

 

Luckily for Lux, however, he was quicker. One of his hands gripped the device while the other one gripped his friend's wrist. He held it tightly, looking down at his friend as he did so. After yet another stare down, they both stood strong. Barriss only yanked herself away when Lux calmly turned the buzzer off.

 

"There, its off now."

 

"Finally," the shorter of the two called out, relieved. "Why does it keep ringing so much anyway?"

 

"I told you, it's my business phone."

 

"What kind of business deal could you possibly be doing at home?"

 

"The kind where I feel obligated to throw a party."

 

"I'm sorry, I think I heard you wrong." Barriss stared at Lux incredulously. "Did you just say a party?"

 

All she got was a hardly visible shrug in response.

 

"You have got to me kidding me."

 

That time, she got a small shake of the head and an even smaller shrug.

 

"I can't even believe this. These incredibly stupid Senator people are going to make you throw a frankly idiotic party, just weeks after your mother DIED? Are they okay? Are they in their right minds? No, seriously, I want to know. Are they on something? Are they sleep deprived?"

 

"Uh... Yes, they're making me throw a party, but it's more like a small get together for my mother's friends. No, I doubt that they're okay, and there's little to no chance that these people are in their right minds. I... have no idea if any of them are 'on something' as you put it so elegantly, and they very well could be sleep deprived. I really wouldn't doubt it."

 

"...Good to know. You don't have to throw a party. You can just get out of it, can't you?" 

 

Lux sighed slowly. "You know, I wish, but no. It's already been planned."

 

"Wait, really? Why didn't you mention this?"

 

"I've been so busy planning it that I never got the chance to mention it to anybody. You know, just because I've been home alone, doesn't mean that I haven't been doing things."

 

"I understand that now. When's this stuffy party, anyway?"

 

"Well, here's two things for you: one, I'm always going to remember how informal you are today, and for two, it's tomorrow."

 

"I'm so freaking sorry did you just say that it's tomorrow? As in, the day after today? As in, the day that's only a few hours from now?"

 

"That's the one," Lux replied with a nod. "Now, before you open your mouth, let me just guess what you're going to say. You want to come, don't you?"

 

"If you aren't coming with me tonight, than I might as well come with you tomorrow. It's not like I don't know where you live."

 

"Yeah... unfortunately, that's a good point?"

 

"Unfortunately?" Barriss echoed with a slight, barely noticeable frown on her face. She seemed to quickly shake it off, however. "Okay, then. So, am I invited?"

 

"You're very much invited," he agreed. "You always are, you should know this already."

 

"Oh, I was thinking that I did. I just didn't want to overstep."

 

"Didn't want to overstep?" Lux exclaimed dubiously. "You just broke into my house to try and convince me to spend the night with you! What do you know about overstepping?"

 

"Excuse you!" Barriss yelled, shaking her head quickly. "I was invited! You gave me a key, you idiot!"

 

Poor Lux seemed to just completely freeze for a few seconds. It was like a computer freezing and rebooting all over again. He then blinked and started up again.

 

"Oh, right. I did do that, didn't I?"

 

"Oh, right," Barriss repeated mockingly. She smiled and shook her head. "So, are you gonna have a sleepover with me tonight or not? You could get away from the stress of party planning and everything... And I just want to hang out with you, just us. Usually Ahsoka's always in the way. I love that girl to death, really I do, but it's hard to spend time with you when your focus is on her, you know?"

 

"...Yeah, I think I know what you mean." Taking a deep breath in an apparent attempt to gain courage, the boy nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll go with you... A little break from reality sounds nice."

 

It was worth it to see Barriss suddenly light up. "You're the best!" she yelled, moving forward to crush Lux in a hug. Once she let him go, she grinned some more.

 

"Wait," Lux said suddenly, reaching forward to grab the black-haired girl's arm. "Wait a second."

 

"Yes?"

 

"I know you have a key and all, but how did you even know that I was home? I could have been out running errands."

 

Barriss' grin turned sly.

 

"Wouldn't you like to know?"


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barriss is there for Lux. The duo gets invited to a really suspicious meeting.

"Remind me to never come with you again."

 

Lux made a face at his friend as he picked up a tray full of cookies. He looked down at it with great concentration. "You were the one who begged me to come. Not that I'm not glad you're here, but you literally asked for this."

 

"It's so boring," Barriss hissed out lowly, looking anxiously around them as if all of the important senators would be particularly inclined to eavesdrop on a couple of tired teenagers. "Can we please leave now?"

 

"No," Lux forced out. "I thought I made this clear to you."

 

"All of these people are so fake. They keep asking me about schoolwork. Then, when my answers there aren't satisfying enough, they ask me all about Luminara. 'Oh, how is your mother? I miss her so much!'"

 

"Uh," the brunet gaped at his friend. "You make no sense to me. How on Earth is that a bad thing? I mean, I get what you're feeling, because if someone walked in here today and said that, I would likely punch them in the face... but that's probably really obvious. Anyway, what, did you get in another argument with your mother?"

 

"Yes," the black-haired girl huffed, frowning even as she grabbed both a super chocolatey cookie and a napkin. She wiped her hands on the napkin, then took a big bite of the small sweet. "How could you tell?"

 

"You look ready to commit murder."

 

"I always look ready and willing to commit murder," Barriss threw out flippantly. When her friend gave her a concerned look, however, she sighed.

 

"Relax." She placed a calming hand on Lux's shoulder. "I'm innocent. I couldn't hurt a fly if I wanted to."

 

A few seconds in comfortable silence passed before Lux shook his head and blurted out exactly what he thought about that statement.

 

"That's one of the biggest lies you've ever told me."

 

"Whatever do you mean?"

 

"Okay, first, stop with the formal talk, I've seen you bellyflop onto my couch and throw a pillow at Ahsoka's face. More importantly, I've also seen you kick a grown man and beat him bloody. Two weeks later, I saw you come across that same man during a tournament, and you did enough damage that you got disqualified... so don't go around telling me that you couldn't hurt a fly." When the shorter of the two simply huffed, Lux smiled triumphantly.

 

"You can't deny it because you know I'm right." He threw a friendly arm around her shoulders and gave her a one armed hug. "I know everything there is to know about you, and you know that. There's no getting around me."

 

"Well, that's not true." At the brown-haired boy's confused look, the teenager grinned, stepping to the side slightly. She then proceeded to move around him. Once she was successfully standing in front of him, she smiled smugly and took another bite of her cookie.

 

"Oh, you were saying?"

 

"...I want to fight you." Barriss' face lit up, and poor Lux Bonteri felt the strong and all-powerful need to take back every single word he just said.

 

"Not like that!"

 

"What do you mean not like that? How many other ways are there to interpret that sentence? One, that's how many!"

 

"NO-"

 

"Excuse me?" The duo's bickering was quickly interuptted by a kind looking woman tapping them both gently on the shoulder. "Is everything alright?"

 

"Yes!" Barriss nodded, throwing an arm around Lux, who made a face at her. She scooted closer to him and grinned brightly, wide and fake. "Of course! I was just having a small discussion with Mr. Bonteri here."

 

"Mister?" the man in question mumbled under his breath. He got shot a mildly annoyed look that had 'just go along with my plan for once' written all over it. Reluctantly, he smiled and nodded.

 

"Yes Ma'am, that's certainly what happened, yes. That's a one hundred percent factual sentence! No false hoods there-"

 

He was cut off as someone stomped on his foot. He looked down at Barriss, who was deliberately looking straight ahead at the woman, and noticably not at him.

 

Rude much?

 

"I'm going to throw so many pillows at you tonight that you're going to beg for mercy."

 

"Who said I'm even coming over tonight?" she whispered back, still smiling at the random senator that was still talking. Both kids had managed to tune her out for the time being, however.

 

"You're coming over to my house tonight because I know you're not going to your mother's."

 

"Said who? Me?" Barriss pressed, shaking her head. "Did I say that?"

 

"Don't be so dramatic." Lux tried to subtly roll his eyes the best he could. He didn't want it to look like he was being rude to all the party guests. Luckily, and amazingly, nobody noticed him. Except for the black-haired girl beside him, which, of course, was the entire point. "You told me you had an argument with her, remember? Why would you want to go back? Especially," he flashed a smirk at her there, nudging her slightly, "I'm your best friend."

 

"You are not," the nineteen-year-old grumpily denied, despite the fact that she knew he wouldn't believe her. Honestly, nobody who ever saw them together would. It's so obvious that the two were close that no real amount of bickering could possibly prove otherwise. Both of them were aware of this. Neither wanted to really admit it.

 

"Yes, I am."

 

"No you're not!" she denied once again, crossing her arms.

 

"You know," the man drawled, tone of voice proving that he didn't believe her in the slightest, "I would believe you if, and only if, you never said I was your best friend multiple times in the past."

 

"I wouldn't say multiple-"

 

"I would! Countless times, in fact. I can't remember how many times you've said it." When Barriss let out a sound that wasn't unlike a growl, Lux laughed and pointed a finger at her. "You aren't in denial!" he sing-songed. As yet another important person passed by him, he straighted up and smiled. He wasn't fooling anybody, but that's alright.

 

"I have Ahsoka too, you know. Kaeden, Rex, probably Miara if that kid comes around any time soon, uhhh Ezra! Ezra and Sabine."

 

"Oh," Lux began, sounding amused, "You mean the Sabine and Ezra we hardly know? Those ones?"

 

Sighing, Barriss nodded. "...Yeah. Darn it, this sucks."

 

"Oh yeah, I'm you're best friend and you can't say no," deadpanned Lux, shaking his head in faux disappointment. "You're right. How tragic."

 

"Yeah, yeah." It looked like Barriss was barely refraining from rolling her eyes. "Look-"

 

"Mr. Bonteri!" Suddenly yet another woman was in his and his friend's face. The main difference this time, though, was that this woman held a notebook in one hand and a camera in the other... and she didn't look nearly as friendly as the first woman did.

 

Lux had a bad feeling about this. He tried to look over at Barriss, who had taken to smiling brightly and professionally, shaking the reporter's hand.

 

Reporter.

 

He couldn't recall inviting any reporters.

 

Lux didn't quite manage the friendly and patient smile he was hoping for as he grabbed his friend's hand, looking at the woman. "Look, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss..." He trailed off, half hoping she would clue him in and half hoping she would shut up and go away, but unfortunately for him, the first one was what happened.

 

"Anaya! Miss Anaya! It truly is such a pleasure to meet you. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

 

"Um, well-"

 

"Excellent!" Anaya flipped open the notebook one-handedly. "How do you feel about the charity event that's being held in your mother's honor?"

 

Barriss looked over at Lux. Lux, utterly confused, looked back at her with the same puzzled expression that was stuck on her face.

 

"I'm sorry?" he questioned, confusion seeping into his voice. The woman simply grinned at the sound of it.

 

Lux really didn't have a good feeling about this.

 

"Well. Um... Could you elaborate a bit on that, please?"

 

"Yes, of course, it would be my pleasure to! In case you haven't noticed, which it sounds like you haven't, your mother was a very busy woman."

 

"Yes. I'm well aware of that."

 

"She's made very many friends."

 

"I'm aware of that too."

 

"...And enemies."

 

"I-" Lux paused. "Why are you telling me this?"

 

The woman's insincere grin switched from mildly annoying to downright intimidating. She threw her head back in a laugh, pearly white teeth showing as she did so. They would be pretty, if they didn't match the Jaws music playing in the back of his mind. She reminded him of a shark somehow; cold and ruthless.

 

She then rummaged around in her tiny purse for a few seconds, quickly pulling out a crumpled up paper.

 

Leaning forward to give it to him, her bright pink lipgloss shined against the warm golden light hitting it. Anaya unfolded the paper, straighted it out some, and smiled sweetly.

 

"Next month, this address." Eying Barriss for just long enough for Lux to get protective, she nodded at her. "Bring your friend. I've seen her talking to people; she's got the right stuff for this."

 

"And what's 'this'?"

 

"Read it."

 

Highly suspicious and just as highly reluctant, Lux did so.

 

"Be on time for this, it's very important. Oh, and like I said, bring your friend."

 

"Who says I need to be on time? Who says I'm even coming?"

 

The woman smiled once again, but this time the look on her face was incredibly hard to guess.

 

"Count Dooku won't like it if you're late."


	23. i hate u, i love u

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barriss and Lux get into one of their rare, but usually explosive, fights.

"Who's Count Dooku?"

 

As Anaya walked away, clipped up hair looking like perfection as she walked, her cold and calculating smile stayed firmly in place on her face. She threw one hand over her shoulder in a quick wave goodbye.

 

Barriss and Lux, while frowning, simply watched her go. Neither person made any move to follow her.

 

"Who's Count Dooku?" Barriss repeated quietly. "What's going on here?"

 

Lux didn't immediately answer her. Instead, he looked down at the crumpled up note in his hand (he had crushed it after it was smoothed out) and eventually decided that if he didn't know what was going on, he couldn't really explain it to someone smarter than him. "Uh. That's a... good question."

 

"Which one? I asked two different questions," she stated the obvious.

 

"The... the second one. I don't really know how to answer that one very well."

 

"Try."

 

Lux sighed heavily. "I don't know what's going on here. Dooku is a Separatist leader. He lead with my mom. I can't quite remember if he was in charge of her or if they were equals, or if she was in charge of him... it all gets fuzzy the more complicated things get. But, uh, the note that what's-her-face gave me says that I'm invited to a charity event in the honor of my mother, but I'm sure you picked that part up already."

 

Barriss nodded ever so slightly. "The woman's name is Anaya, and yes, I did. I think it's insensitive for these senators, if that's what they are, to throw an event for your mother and not include you in it. At the very least, the absolute least, they could have asked you to help them pick some things up." She then lowered her voice slightly more to prevent eavesdroppers from eavesdropping. "But instead they didn't even let you know what's going on. And now this Dooku guy is a part of it?"

 

"I guess so. I don't know. He's supposed to be there, so maybe I should go..."

 

"No," Barriss shook her head. "Why would you need to? To keep up apparences again? That's what you're doing right now, in case you've forgotten. You don't need to do it anymore. Do you even really need to talk to the man? Can't you just schedule a meeting if necessary?"

 

"No," Lux shook his head too. "I wish I could, B, but it doesn't work that way."

 

"Yes it does. It can't be as difficult as you're making it, I'm absolutely positive about that."

 

"You don't know what you're talking about."

 

"Yes, I do!"

 

"You don't know anything about politics or nasty people or people that always have a ulterior motive, or people that will deliberately go out and fight other people as hard as they can just to get ahead! Not even to win! Just to succeed a little bit more than they did last week. You have no idea what you're talking about, Barriss, so please don't pretend that you do."

 

"I'm not as stupid as you apparently seem to think I am," Barriss, who's anger was steadily starting to increase, replied. She crossed her arms tightly around herself as she frowned up at him.

 

"You... I can't- don't you dare try to guilt trip me with your wide eyes and your stupid smile and whatever the heck else you have pulled up your sleeve."

 

"Do you really think that low of me? Do you really think I have a whole plan mapped out just to win this argument? I'm not that desperate to be right- even though I already am- even though you just have to have the last word, no matter what."

 

"You know what? You're right. You definitely are stupid." He ignored her slightly offended look as he continued talking. "You think I don't know what I'm talking about? You think I won't know more about politics and shady people than you do? This is not about being right, Barriss."

 

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow at him as she frowned, clearly unimpressed. "This seems to be exactly about that."

 

"No, this is about the fact that you're refusing to admit that you don't know about something. You won't admit that you're not the smartest and most knowledgeable person in the room. I know you're intelligent and stubborn and quiet, which usually always work out in your favor- but not when you refuse to even stop and listen to the facts!"

 

"You won't listen to me, not the other way around, Lux! You won't back down on this, and you think I'm stubborn? Take a look in the mirror! You wouldn't know that you're being impossible and stubborn unless both things walked over and hit you over the head with a metal bat, you idiot!"

 

"Stubborn and impossible are words, Barriss, they can't hit me over the head," Lux deadpanned calmly, unfolding the paper in his hands once again. "But you wouldn't really get that right now, would you?"

 

"And once again, you miss the point entirely," the nineteen-year-old huffed. "The point is that you're the one who's being all stubborn and impossible! I know that politics and your mom and stupid people are completely and utterly your forte, but that doesn't mean that I can't be right, too. Just because you know what you're talking about sometimes doesn't mean that I'm wrong!"

 

"How stupid can one person be?" When Barriss shot daggers at him, he simply ignored it and pushed forward. "You," he fumed, pointing one finger at her as he spoke, "Are obnoxious. You have the nerve-" his face contorted furiously, "The actual nerve to dare insinuate that you're right and I'm wrong about something serious regarding my own mother. My own dead mother, who, by the way, drilled into my head exactly how to deal with business meetings. So, no, I'm not going to just skip it, and no, I'm not going to try to 'keep up apparences' as you put it. I'm going to that stupid, insulting charity event to deal with Count Dooku. I don't know how much you care right now, but..."

 

Lux quickly looked around him, worried that people had overheard the duo's conversation, and was pleased to see that not even one person was looking their way. Despite that reasurring fact, he lowered his voice a bit more anyways.

 

"I think Count Dooku might have killed my mother."


	24. Don’t Let Me Down.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise encounter with his absent mother quickly has Anakin’s day going from good to horrendous for everyone involved within mere minutes.

"Hey Snips!"

Anakin happily waltzed through the front door, which resulted in him leaving it wide open as he did so. At first, Kaeden, (who was sitting on the couch in the living room,) couldn't quite tell if that was intentional or not. But as soon as a pretty brunette followed behind the twenty-something year old, she had her answer.

"Ahsoka!" Kaeden hollered. Barreling out of her bedroom as fast as she could, Ahsoka eventually skidded to a halt- and almost fell on her face in front of- the pretty brunette. She wobbled quite a bit as she struggled to stay upright. Anakin reached out a helpful hand to steady his sister, and gave an approving nod once that was successful and she stayed put.

"Hello," Ahsoka mumbled, staring down at her toes. Kaeden, with much more grace than her friend had, stood up and moved to stand beside the other girl.

"Hello," Kaeden repeated, sticking out her hand so it could get shaken. "I'm Kaeden Larte. I temporarily live here until I have a steady job and can afford my own place to live without going bankrupt. This economy is rough sometimes, you know? Anakin, Shmi, and Ahsoka," she shot a small smile at each of them that were there, but at her fellow nineteen-year-old last of all, "Were kind enough to allow me to stay here until I can get back up on my own two feet. Anyway, enough of that. I'm sure you're not here to hear my nervous rambling. It's nice to meet you, Miss...?" She purposely trailed off in hopes that the older woman would offer her name. 

Sure enough, the plan instantly worked. "Oh! It's Amidala. Please just call me Padmé though. It's nice to meet you too, Kaeden." She shook the teenager's hand before her gaze returned to the clumsy girl beside her. "I'm going to assume that you must be Ahsoka, then?"

"Yes," she said, briefly glancing up from her feet again. She was pleased that instead of the judgement or laughter she expected, she was left looking up at the woman's smiling face. "Yes, that's me. It's nice to meet you, Padmé. What, uh, what brings you here?" She shot a look at Anakin. It was a very pointed look that silently asked why Padmé was there in the first place.

"Wait, have we met before? You look awfully familiar..." the oldest of them all placed a hand on her chin in thought, but quite a few seconds went by before the white and blue haired girl seemed to come to a conclusion.

"The dojo. We might have talked once or twice. I've seen you hanging around with Anakin before now, too."

"Ah! That must be it, then."

"Not to be rude, Padmé, since you seem very nice and all, but why exactly are you here? I don't think you've ever said."

"Anakin didn't tell you?" Before anyone could answer her question, she shook her head. "No, of course not. I forgot I told him to wait on that." She smiled sweetly at Anakin. "Thank you for not saying anything."

"It's no problem," he said sincerely as he smiled lovingly back at her. After around a minute (maybe even two,) of the mushy expressions and heart eyes, he seemed to snap out of it, which caused the other brunette to do so as well. "Oh right! Padmé is staying the night with us. I hope none of you guys are too against the idea?"

"Oh no, I don't have to stay if it's going to be a problem-" Padmé attempted to be polite, but was not as politely cut off. 

"Okay, I don't see why you shouldn't stay..." Ahsoka stared. "But could you maybe explain why you want to? I know that you just said you don't have to, but you're just trying to be nice and I can tell. You're welcome to stay, but please, curious minds have to know!"

Anakin then proceeded to wrap an arm around the woman who, to her credit, only looked vaguely uncomfortable over the fact that they were being affectionate around people she didn't know or trust. "We're dating! Padmé is my girlfriend!" He repeated that last part of his sentence one more time, sounding in complete and utter awe as he did. "Padmé is my girlfriend. Can you believe that? I sure can't! Isn't it great?" Anakin beamed. 

"If there was a physical embodiment of heart eyes, or, well, two embodiments, it would be them," Kaeden whispered smoothly to Ahsoka, who nodded in silent agreement.

"Oh I forgot to tell you something, Snips!" Anakin exclaimed suddenly, breaking away from his girlfriend as he reached for his phone.

"Uh, yeah, you somehow managed to forget to let me know that a girl likes you back. Like, a real girl that is way out of your league, by the way."

"Hey!" He frowned for a little bit, but he seemed to quickly shake it off. "I mean, you're not wrong, but hey. That's not what I meant, though."

"Then what did you mean?"

He opened his mouth to speak and to maybe even explain a little, but the sound of jingling keys from the outside of the house interrupted his train of thought.

"I'm home!"

"Mom!" Ahsoka yelled out, running toward the figure standing in the still open front door. She didn't seem to question it. Shmi, on the other hand, did. Very much so. 

"Why is the door left open like this? You know that can attract flies to the house! You know how I feel about flies. Or even worse- it could attract the rude neighbors from two houses down!"

"Hey, it wasn't me this time! Anakin forgot to close it."

"Sorry Mom!" Anakin yelled out, following his sister out to where his mother stood. "Hey Mom." He have her a great big hug. Once he let her go, he casually broke some news to her. "Oh, by the way, we actually have some company tonight."

She crossed her arms. "Why didn't you tell me that before now?"

He pointed over at his phone that laid still in the other room. "You never answered me when I texted you earlier. I never got the chance to tell you."

She seemed to want to ignore that fact entirely. "Well, who's the company?"

"My girlfriend!"

"You have a girlfriend?"

"That's what I said!" Ahsoka agreed. "But I swear he's telling the truth. She's real, she's here, and she's really freaking nice. Come look!"

Sure enough, when Shmi walked into the kitchen where the woman had walked into with Kaeden, she saw a sophisticated and strong looking young woman standing there, calmly drinking some cold water out of a coffee cup.

"Oh, hello!" As soon as she noticed them, she set the cup down with a smile. Kaeden awkwardly waved at the owner of the house as she pulled out one of the chairs and sat down in it. "You must be Mrs. Skywalker!" Padmé finished her sentence brightly.

"I am, yes. And you are?"

"Padmé Amidala, but please just call me Padmé. It's such a pleasure to meet you." She seemed like she sincerely meant that, too. The grin she wore complimented her glowing face and bright, energetic eyes. 

"Yes, it's good to meet you too... Anakin, maybe we have a word, please?"

Ahsoka mouthed a quick and silent, 'good luck,' to her brother as he passed by her and left the room.

The duo entered the living room again before either of them said anything.

"Okay, so, uh, what's up Mom?"

"Why didn't you tell me that you were inviting someone over today?"

"I thought I explained that already," a confused Anakin replied, head tilted and all. "You didn't answer me."

"Is this all my fault, then? Honey, I was at work to support you, I couldn't just answer you back. I was much too busy."

"You were the one that texted me in the first place to let me know that you decided to come home today."

"Decided?" she repeated. "What do you mean by 'decided?'"

"You're never home anymore," he stated the obvious. "You're either at work or you're with Cliegg. You're here once a week if that, maybe twice at the very most. I understand that you're busy and all, but we all miss you. I miss you." 

"I miss you too, Ani, of course I do. You have to know that," she sighed. "But you have to understand that sometimes I just can't get on my phone and sometimes I just can't get back here."

"I know that. I understand that. Can't you try just a little bit harder though?"

"I have been!"

"Maybe, but you haven't been trying hard enough. I may be technically an adult, but I still need you. Ahsoka still needs you. Kaeden is almost twenty now but you haven't even tried to get to know her. I doubt you even know her birthday."

She didn't correct him. She couldn't, and they both knew that. 

"Do you?"

"No," she finally admitted. "I never actually asked her."

"Exactly!" He exclaimed, pointing. "You never asked. You also never ask how our days are. You don't ask if we need a hug. You don't ask if we need someone to tell us everything is going to be okay. You don't check up on us when Ahsoka's friend's mother gets attacked and dies. You don't check up on us when Ahsoka and I's friend's father dies." The more he spoke, the more he seemed to get riled up. "You don't come by here when Rex goes off to college and we all gather together to send him off. I swear there must have been around thirty of us there, but Rex was looking for you the entire time. You barely care when Ahsoka and Barriss graduate high school. Barriss was valedictorian! Even Luminara was proud of her and she's not impressed by anything! You barely care when Ahsoka suddenly flourishes and gains a huge group of friends. There's somebody in this house almost every day, by the way. You don't care when I rank up at the dojo! Oh, or when I get a promotion! Oh, wait, I never even got the chance to tell you about that." 

Shmi opened her mouth to speak, but a furious Anakin didn't give her the opportunity to. 

"You don't care when Obi-Wan has to take Ahsoka home from dates or from hanging out with her friends because she hates driving and you aren't around to take her home. You don't seem to notice that that small bit of driving time is an amazing chance to get to bond with her and get to know and understand each other better. You barely seem to care when Kaeden's cold and unfeeling parents completely kick her out and leave her in the dark, only mere moments away from being homeless." Tears began pooling in his eyes at that. 

He tried to take a deep breath to calm down, but by the time he continued talking, he was breaking down.

"You didn't care," he sobbed, "When my mentor died. You didn't care when one of my mentors, one of my closest friends, died right in Obi-Wan's arms. I came back into the dojo to learn that one of my closest friends was murdered. Murdered, Mom! Everyone there had to see it! Ahsoka had to watch someone die with her own two eyes! She was forced to experience that! We all had to attend the funeral, almost all on our own! I needed you! I really, really needed you that day, Mom, but you were nowhere to be found. Do you remember where you were that day? Huh? Tell me, do you remember?"

Once again, she didn't get the chance to speak as Anakin's words kept tumbling out of his mouth. 

"Cliegg! You were with Cliegg! I was at a funeral for one of the best men that I have ever met in my entire life, one of the only people that have shown me so much compassion and so much kindness that it actually made me believe in the world and the people in it, but you just had to run off and go kiss your husband instead of going to that funeral with us and holding us tight. If you would just stop and pay attention to your own children for just a few small seconds -"

"Shut the heck up, Anakin! I freaking care about you and I always have! You wouldn't even be here if I didn't care about you! You can't eat without money, and I make the money in this household, so shut up for once, Anakin!" The sudden shouting that came out of the small woman so spontaneously and with such a negative force should have (and could have, if he was even a smidgen calmer,) startled Anakin. However, the man stood strong and determined, especially when Ahsoka, Kaeden, and Padmé came flying into the living room once they heard the loud and sudden shouting. 

"What's going on? Is everyone okay?" Ahsoka asked nervously. Focused on his mother and not on satisfying the small teenager's curiosity, Anakin gently pushed her behind him. When his voice came out low and angry, the girl stepped back a bit. 

He didn't seem to notice. 

"Stay behind me, Ahsoka."

"Ahsoka?" Whispered Kaeden. At the sound of her voice, Anakin glanced back a bit and pushed her behind him, too. She didn't seem to mind, though. It didn't look like she really cared. Kaeden had more important things to attend to. She then glanced over at the girl beside her, who looked very close to shaking like a leaf or shouting at the top of her lungs. "How often does he ever call you by your name? It's an honest question."

"Something is very wrong," Ahsoka whispered back vaguely, not seeming to be very willing to actually answer her friend's serious question. Instead, she scooted closer and gripped the dark-haired brunette's arm tightly. "Look at me, Kaeden." Confused, Kaeden did. "I'm probably never going to say this again, so remember these words, write them down, mark them on your arm, I don't care- but we really need to listen to Anakin right now. We need to stay here and pay attention."

"Do you have your phone?" The non-sequitur seemed to throw Ahsoka for a loop, if the baffled look on her face could be believed. (It could be.)

"Yes, but that kind of defeats the entire last sentence that I just said? How would we pay attention if we're messing around online?" Despite the fact that she didn't seem too pleased at the mention of a cell phone or the internet, she pulled out one of the two things anyway. She looked around her shoulder, and as soon as she realized that nobody was watching her, she passed it off to Kaeden. "Why do you ask?" she wondered nervously, "Don't you have yours?"

Kaeden shook her head. "No. I left it in your room."

"Why do I need my phone right now, exactly? Aren't we kind of in the middle of something?"

Kaeden's response was blunt. "If this thing goes sideways, then we need to be ready to call somebody."

"Sideways? What do you think will happen?"

"Hopefully nothing," she said with a highly skeptical look on her face. "I doubt that nothing will happen, though, which is pretty darn unfortunate. Just hear me out here and keep your phone on you."

Ahsoka looked like she was about to nod, but suddenly paused. "Wait, I would, but don't you have my phone?"

Kaeden paused too, then began searching her pockets for the aforementioned electronic. After a few loud minutes, (Anakin and Shmi had not stopped arguing, even for a few small seconds,) she successfully found the object they needed. "Yes." She pulled it out of her pocket so her housemate could see it. "There. We have it." She then put it back into her pocket where she knew it would stay safe. If only the two girls could be that confident about their own safety, which was infinitely more important. 

"Seriously, though. We have to be ready."

Ahsoka nodded in silent agreement, and that was that. However, the two girls didn't seem to realize how long they were whispering. By the time they had stopped quietly communicating with one another, Padmé had apparently decided that she just couldn't stay out of the main conversation at hand- the one between Anakin and Shmi, that is.

The brunette loudly and purposefully cleared her throat, which resulted in everyone getting interrupted from their conversations. When the other four's heads shot up to look at her in confusion, she smiled, satisfied.

"There we go. Everyone looking at me?" The answer to that was a very clear and resounding 'yes.' The two teenager's eyes were wide, Shmi looked a bit startled, and Anakin (once again,) just looked proud. He didn't look the slightest bit surprised like the others were, though, so it was likely that he had been informed of all that beforehand. The small smirk, tiny and barely noticeable on his face, came very close to giving him away. If he even noticed, (or cared at all,) he certainly didn't make that known. 

"You're not the only person who makes an income in this household. Did you know that? Come to think of it, I'm not even sure that you're the one who rakes in the most money and takes care of the bills- the breadwinner of the household, if you will." The tone of her voice was so calm and professional that, unless you were trained in the arts of one Padmé Amidala, (which none in the room but Anakin was,) you wouldn't really notice that she looked about two minutes away from shouting at the top of her lungs. 

"What do you mean?" Shmi asked, sounding incredulous. "I'm the only one with a job!"

"I teach kids and younger adults-" Anakin motioned vaguely behind him at what was most likely Ahsoka, and what could probably have even included Kaeden, too, "At the dojo. I'm on the council, which, no, isn't exactly an official term right now, but I'm working on it, but that's besides my main point here. It pays, and since I just recently got promoted," Ahsoka and Kaeden clapped quietly for him in the background, but he didn't actually see it, "It's probably going to start paying really well really soon. As a matter of fact, I very well might make more money than you do right now." 

"Impossible," she scoffed, shaking her head. "You fight people just so you can have a little bit of money. You know how I feel about that, Anakin, and on top of my own feelings and going completely against them just because you want to, there's absolutely no way that you could possibly earn a living off of that. It's just the cold, hard facts, I'm sorry to have to tell you that," she said in a tone that heavily implied that she wasn't sorry in the slightest, "But you just need to know it. It's not possible, I promise you, Ani."

"Don't call me Ani right now or I swear-"

"You swear what? You would never hurt me!"

"What? Slow your roll, Mom, I never even implied that I would hurt you! Why would you even think that? Do you really think that I would?"

"No, of course not, Ani! That's not what I meant!"

"I just said," Anakin hissed out on the clear verge of losing his temper, "Don't call me that right now."

"Would you like me to pull out some statistics?" Padmé suddenly inquired as politely as she could. The smile on her face was slightly strained and she had even gone so far as to take off her earrings. She looked ready for a fight, even if she didn't particularly want to be. "I have a spreadsheet with me right now."

"Why do you have a- never mind. You know what, sure," Shmi smiled confidently, "Pull it out, let me see what's on your spreadsheet."

Padmé let herself smirk a little before reigning it in and looking as professional as she could, which was quite a lot. "Very well then. Just let me go grab it." 

She only had to leave for a tiny amount of time, a couple minutes at the very most, before she walked back into the room and laid the paper out flat in front of the group. 

"That," she pointed over at a high looking number near Shmi's side of the sheet, "Is Anakin's annual salary. This," she then pointed over at a slightly smaller number on her side, "Is yours, correct?"

Both mother and son bobbled their heads together as one. They both tried their best to avoid even glancing at each other. They didn't want to get mad again, but it was likely to be inevitable.

"Good. Now, see, just sit here," Padmé motioned at a chair, "And compare those numbers for me, alright? Just do it for a few minutes, could you please? I'll even get out of the way so you can take in all the information I've given you."

True to her word, she moved out of the way and moved to sit silently on the floor beside Anakin, who was looking at her like she was a bright and beautiful star in the sky. Judging by the way Anakin's eyes seemed to light up when she placed a hand on his knee, he likely did think she was bright and beautiful. (Could you really blame him, though?)

"How? How do you make this much money?" Shmi eventually stuttered out, pointing over at a high looking number. That number was the annual salary of one of them, and that one most certainly wasn't her. She was totally reeling. "I'm so confused... You beat people up! You hurt people for a living! How do you earn that much money? How?"

"I save my money," Anakin said in a tone that indicated that it was easy as pie even though it probably was not. "I invest, even," he continued in that calm know-it-all tone, "I take side jobs. So does Ahsoka too, for that matter." The last part of his sentence was finished with a large flourish over at the white-and-blue haired girl. He grinned proudly at her as she began speaking. 

Ahsoka nodded, smiling back over at her brother in return. All it did was make him grin wider and prouder, which resulted in two happy siblings. "Anyway," Ahsoka began once she wasn't super distracted anymore, "I make things. I do some DIY projects, too, which is a lot more successful than you might be imagining right now. I fix up some different kinds of jewelry, clothes, bags, stuff like that. I sell all of those things, and more, online, too."

Anakin pointed at her, looking ready to take over for her. "All of that is true. I don't know how successful she is right now, but I bet that she's gonna fly high above every last one of my expectations if she hasn't already," he told his mom sincerely. Padmé, watching this, grinned so softly it was like she just fell in love for the first time. 

"I don't know if Kaeden has a job yet or not," he continued calmly, trying his best to not look at Padmé for the time being, "But I do know that she has plans to get one very soon. She's already began looking, and when she doesn't do that, she does a lot of work here around the house. Why do you think you suddenly have enough money for bills every month when we've all caught you failing to budget your money because you keep going on insane trips with your husband? For some reason, I think you're under the impression that since you have money sometimes, you should spend it the very second that you can. It's like you don't want to have enough to pay the bills and have extra so we can all live our lives, for some bizarre reason. We," he motioned around at Ahsoka, himself, and Kaeden, "Are the only reason that this place is kept afloat."

Ahsoka nodded and seemed to think that this was a good time to chime in and put in her own two cents. "I hate to break it to you, but within this last year or so, you've had nothing to do with it. Or us, for that matter, but you don't seem too tore up over that part."

"You're all making it very clear that you don't need me around anymore, so why am I even here? What's the point? I could be with Cliegg happily back in Tatooine by now."

Anakin made a face at those last words. "One, why would you do that to yourself and poor Cliegg? He doesn't deserve that... all that sand, all the miserable people, the horrible water, did I mention the sand already? Seriously, you're going to absolutely ruin the poor man's clothes! And for two, I've made it abundantly clear just a few minutes ago that I do need you. I lost count of how many examples I gave you to show you how much we all need you."

"And why Tatooine specifically?" Kaeden spoke up suddenly, looking lost in thought despite the fact that she was totally paying attention and was completely aware of her surroundings. "Was that said for a reason or was that just an example?"

Anakin shot an approving glance over at the girl. His expression could likely even be described as proud. "Yeah, she has a really good point. Thank you for that, Kaeden. So, do you care to explain that?" 

Ahsoka and Padmé each gave her an approving nod of their own. 

Shmi took a deep breath and began walking backwards for some unknown reason. She seemed to desperately want to put distance in between her and the other people, which definitely did not bode well. 

"Fine, I'll talk, but please don't hate me."

Anakin didn't seem particularly keen to make any promises; he just looked kind of concerned.

"What is it?"

"...I got a new job offer. I leave in two months. It's a really good job, it pays really well, and you all would have enough left over to live your lives here however you want... but it's in Tattooine."

"What?!"

Shmi seemed to expect that Anakin was going to start yelling, but she didn't seem to expect the way that everyone else started yelling with him as they all leapt up to their feet. Shmi, startled, made the mistake of backing up some more. She didn't seem to notice the nearby table that held a very nice, very new, and incredibly fragile vase sitting on top of it. 

She also didn't seem to notice that as she bumped into the table, the vase on top of it began falling. Anakin, on the other hand, did. His eyes widened and he leapt forward in hopes that he would catch it in time, but he was too late. So, instead of that happening, just as he got close enough to touch it, the thing crashed into tons of tiny pieces all over and on his foot, and some pieces landed in his hand, too. 

"Heck!"

In the background, Ahsoka seemed to have the same opinion. The only differences between the two was that one of them wasn't covered in glass, and one of them was doing a lot of shouting. That one was not Anakin. 

He stood in bewildered silence for a couple of seconds before he sprung back into action. He leapt away from the shards as quickly as he could. None of it had really hit him yet, (physically, it definitely had, but he hadn't quite begun feeling it yet,) so he was able to get moving remarkably well. Adrenaline seemed to flow through him as he did, which likely helped move the whole process along. Another thing that helped everything go along as smoothly as it could was Padmé.

Padmé was once again proving her competence by the way she ran out of the room, grabbed a dustpan, and rushed back in with only a few seconds lost. Ahsoka was apparently determined to go following behind her like a baby duckling, which actually proved to be beneficial for them all. She was helpful and doing similar things to what the older woman was doing, just without the same level of efficiency, seeing as she wasn't quite as experienced... and come on, its Padmé. She takes over and does well in emotionally charged situations. What Ahsoka brought back was likely just as good, though, if not better; she was the person who thought to bring bandages and a first aid kit. It was a very small kit, which was unfortunate to say the least, but at least it was something. Then, last but not least, there was Kaeden, who was seemingly determined to at least do something and not just sit around. While watching the mess unfold around her, she quickly wrangled Ahsoka's phone out of one of her pockets and dialed one of the most recent callers. 

"I knew grabbing the blasted phone was a good idea," she mumbled before taking a deep breath and speaking into it. "Hello? Who is this?"

"Hello? I would like to ask you the same question," the confused voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi called out from the other end of the line. "Who is this?"

"Guys?" Kaeden called out loudly, still holding the phone close to her ear, "I have 'Soka's phone and there's a British sounding guy on the other side. Any ideas who it is?"

"It's Obi-Wan," a panicked Ahsoka and an oddly tired sounding Anakin told her without any hesitation. 

"Got it." She nodded. "Hi again. I'm Kaeden Larte, friend of Anakin and Ahsoka, and we might have a major problem going on here."

"It's not major," Anakin, who seemed to have an alarmingly high amount of trouble keeping his words right and said normally, corrected her. "It's totally a minor problem. So minor it's not even a big deal. There's no problem here. Please just go on with your day."

Nobody was convinced. "Is everything alright over there?" Obi-Wan's still very confused voice asked.

"Uh, yes, just give me a second-" was what Kaeden attempted to say before she was interrupted by a screaming and screeching Ahsoka, who had gone from zero to fifty to one hundred at a truly remarkable rate.

"Guys. Guys. GUYS! Hello? YOU IDIOTS I THINK HE'S GOING TO BLEED OUT!"

"What? What's going on over there? Is everyone okay? Was that Ahsoka?"

Kaeden laughed nervously, not daring to look around her and see how badly and how fast things had (probably) escalated. "Maybe? Give me one second." She placed the phone down momentarily and turned to glare at her friend. "Ahsoka, I understand that you're scared. We all are, okay?" 

Ahsoka nodded. 

"Good. Try not to take this the wrong way, and if you get insulted then I swear that I'll make it up to you later on, but please shut up. I will actually beg you right here and now if I have to, so please just stop talking. You're freaking me out, and I'm kind of trying not to scare your British friend."

"If we're all gonna be scared then so is he! We're all in this together," she replied firmly. "Make him get here now."

Kaeden then picked the phone back up again just to hear the very grumpy British sounding man yelling. She wasn't quite sure if he was yelling at her, if he was just yelling to get all of his frustration out, or if we just straight up panicking. Either way, she wasn't too fond of it and found herself quickly wishing that he would shut up, too. 

"Nobody's telling me what's going on here!" He protested as if he could read her thoughts. "What am I walking into here? A small clothing disaster? A minor argument? A major argument? A fist fight? Someone went to jail again? A high stakes poker game? A low stakes poker game? Someone in need of lots of first aid? I just need to know what it is so I can be fully prepared."

"First aid!" Ahsoka, Kaeden, Shmi, and Anakin himself yelled out in unison. Instead of elaborating on that anymore, they all simply went back to screaming and fussing over Anakin, who was starting to look very done with the entire thing. 

Obi-Wan didn't seem to have any issues with that group's lack of decent communication skills, though, which was probably for the best. 

"Alright, I'm on my way right now! I'll be there as soon as I can."

He then hung up the phone, but, true to his word, he was indeed there very soon. 

"Where's the emergency?" was the very first thing out of his mouth when Kaeden opened the front door, (which finally got closed earlier,) to see him standing there.

"Ah, yes," Kaeden said primly and with a nod, "You must be the British dude." 

'The British Dude,' as the brunette called him, was practically armed to the teeth with anything that he had managed to think of with a worry filled brain and a small pick up truck to throw things in. 

To get more specific, that included one fire extinguisher that sat in the backseat of his truck, (it wasn't visible,) one large and likely very heavy backpack, (which was super visible,) one small first aid kid in his hand, one Luminara Undulli who stood directly behind him, one water bottle, whatever else the woman behind him had on her, and everything else that just went unnoticed in the house wide panic.

"Yes, I'm the British dude," he said, tone of voice sounding a tad bit impatient, "There might be an emergency, remember? It's the reason that I'm here!"

"Oh, right! Follow me, both of you. Watch your step, sorry."

"I feel like I should be afraid," a very calm and most certainly not afraid Luminara mumbled to herself. Obi-Wan seemed to hear her however, judging by the frown on his face that hadn't been there just a second before she decided to speak.

"You're watching out for glass," Kaeden warned the two calmly, seemingly perfectly content with not giving any indication to whether or not she heard the woman's comment. There was probably a 50/50 chance that she did. "Lots of it."

"Why, what happened?" Obi-Wan asked. 

"Shmi decided to show up."

"That's... not what I was expecting to hear. What does she have to do with any of this? With a bunch of glass on the floor, especially?"

"How do you think it got there?" Kaeden asked sarcastically. She then rolled her eyes. "Idiot Shmi fell into a glass vase."

"I don't understand the sudden hostility."

"You will."

"Well that was vague," Luminara whispered to Obi-Wan. That time, he didn't correct her. Why bother when she was correct?

"Alright, stay here for a second." 

Before they could enter the room that the rest of the group was in, Kaeden paused. She walked inside the room, paled a bit, and walked back over to the duo.

"You," she pointed over at Luminara, "Do you have a phone on you? I need someone to go make a phone call, but I can't do it right now. I need to go attempt to calm Ahsoka down."

"I always have a phone on me," she answered, pulling out a tiny flip phone as her proof.

"That looks older than me."

"Oh? How old are you?"

"Almost twenty years old. Does that thing still work?"

"Of course!" She seemed almost offended by the idea that her old dinosaur phone would no longer be up to tip top shape. 

"Good. You're calling 911 then."

The calm, albeit a bit shaky, way her words were spoken seemed to shock both adults.

"What?!"

"Now, please." She spoke politely but with a severe hint of urgency coating her voice. She was beginning to think that one or both of them had a brick in their head or that they had gotten hit with a brick to the head until Luminara finally seemed to get with the program. She began typing away at her old flip phone.

"Good. Now you, British, you need to get in there to see Anakin."

"Definitely. Lead the way."

So, she lead the way.

"Obi-Wan!" Anakin squeaked out as loudly as he could, (which wasn't all that loudly,) when he saw one of his best friends enter the room and head over to him. "You're here. That's great and all, but why are you here?"

"Anakin, you're bleeding."

The man shrugged as if this was just a regular day in the life of being Anakin Skywalker. "I'm always bleeding."

"Incorrect. If anything, you bruise more, or you just come out unharmed like the brat you sometimes are."

"Eh," he shrugged. "You're not wrong."

"Anakin, we really need to get you to the hospital."

Luminara pointed over at the small phone held against her ear and simply mouthed one word: 'ambulance.'

"Can you stand?" 

Anakin once again gave an unconcerned shrug. 

"Yeah. Maybe. Who knows? I don't know. Let's look and see."

Since everyone expected him to stumble a bit at the least and have to hold on to something for a while before moving on and acting good as new at the worst, nobody was expecting what actually happened next.

Anakin wobbled to his feet and smiled triumphantly. He then took about two steps to make his way over to Obi-Wan, who was barely a walking distance away...

Right before he face planted into the ground.


End file.
